Cardano Foundation

The Cardano Foundation votes Abstain. We recognise the intent behind this Info Action, and we agree with several points raised. However we believe this topic warrants discussion on each point and that an Info Action is not the best forum to decide on all of these issues at once.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

We agree that, generally, improvements to Cardano governance and treasury withdrawals can be made as the ecosystem matures. This Info Action identifies many issues which can be improved, however the “how” of these improvements, the operational element, requires further discussion.
Specifically, we have identified the following issues as particularly salient to governance growth, and are actively discussing these with other community members:
Treasury budget, coordination and agreed use: we would caution that implementation of this should avoid centralization or bottlenecks to a single actor
DRep support: we agree that expert insights into Treasury Withdrawals could be amplified to support DReps in their evaluations.
We encourage discussion of the points raised in this Info Action across existing channels, e.g. Intersect or Cardano Forum, to obtain feedback on each point raised.
We also note that once a concrete proposal is available, a CIP may be the optimal forum for technical refinement and enforceable implementation.

The Cardano Foundation votes ABSTAIN to this Info Action.

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NOTE on 'Internal Voting':
The fields constitutional and unconstitutional below reflect the CF governance teams' individual opinions whether they are for or against the proposal. Reason for this inconsistency is, that CIP-136 is at the moment only applicable to CC rationales, but we want to record the internal opinions of our DRep assessment transparently as well.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. The revised proposal has been unbundled from Midgard, resolving one major concern of the previous proposal. While there are remaining questions on details and execution of this proposal, we believe Hydra’s potential and value to enterprise scaling justifies a YES.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

The Cardano Foundation abstained from the previous version of the governance action due to bundling of two distinct Layer 2 solutions, contested IP risks, and insufficient budget granularity. We commend the proposers for submitting a revised proposal that extracts Midgard, effectively halving the requested budget to focus on a single, coherent Hydra workstream.

Our decision to support this governance action is driven by the following factors:

• Constructive Rescoping: The removal of Midgard addresses our primary concerns regarding structural bundling and contested IP. The proposal now presents a focused 5,100,781 ADA workstream dedicated to maturing Hydra.
• Enterprise Utility and Developer Experience: Layer 2 scaling solutions are valuable for expanding Cardano's enterprise adoption and high-volume use cases. We value the team's stated commitment to addressing technical debt, improving tooling, and delivering features requested by production users and pipeline integrators.
• Administrative Safeguards: The deployment of funds is based on milestone-gated disbursements, an independent third-party assurer, Intersect oversight, and a proportional refund mechanism for undisbursed funds. This helps mitigate execution risks and improves transparency of delivery.

There are elements of the revised proposal which warrant further clarity, and which we expect clear reporting on:

• Financial Granularity and Proposal Overlap: The proposal lacks granularity on milestone delivery and associated cost. . Clarity on the work already funded and delivered and the new work to be performed under this proposal could be improved.
• Roadmap Clarity: The development roadmap, including precise deliverables and their associated timelines, remains opaque and requires further definition to ensure effective milestone assessment.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. Although we have residual concerns on this proposal, we acknowledge Hydra as a significant component of Cardano's scaling infrastructure with high potential.

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NOTE on 'Internal Voting':
The fields constitutional and unconstitutional below reflect the CF governance teams' individual opinions whether they are for or against the proposal. Reason for this inconsistency is, that CIP-136 is at the moment only applicable to CC rationales, but we want to record the internal opinions of our DRep assessment transparently as well.

This document includes the Cardano Foundation’s voting decisions and individual voting rationales for the 11 Treasury Withdrawal governance actions submitted following the Intersect-facilitated budget process.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

Our approach is designed to ensure both transparency and efficiency, applying a consistent evaluation framework (see the “Cardano Foundation Voting Decisions for the 2026 Intersect Budget Process”) to each proposal and presenting our reasoning in a single, comprehensive document.

No material changes have been made to the individual proposals since the budget proposals were approved in Hydra Voting, therefore our votes on these withdrawals reflect our original assessment and vote. Our voting decisions on the 11 treasury withdrawals are made available in the table below.

Fund administration clarity is an important consideration for our voting decisions. Our expectation is that expect Intersect, as administrator, will manage funds diligently, provide public transparency on contracts, and ensure robust oversight, holding recipients accountable for deliverables.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation’s votes on these 11 treasury withdrawal governance actions are the direct execution of a single, comprehensive review process that began during the Hydra Voting phase. Although we present one aggregate rationale for efficiency, each proposal and governance action was individually assessed against a consistent framework anchored in our publicly stated principles.

Voting Record

Governance Action ID	Title	Vote	Rationale
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sqcw2nc5	Withdraw 3,961,538 ada for Bringing Real-World Payments to Cardano with Wirex	YES	The Wirex proposal credibly contributes to adoption and utility because the deliverables provide card-based financial services and open payment rails linked to on-chain balances. The proposal is expected to expand real-world payment utility and leverage Wirex's established scale to create a plausible path toward increased ecosystem usage to justify treasury investment. The budget justification would benefit from establishing explicit Cardano-specific user migration volumes, ADA spending targets, and a delineation of open-source components. However, the team demonstrates a strong operational history and extensive multi-jurisdictional transaction experience. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sztttste	Withdraw 540,750 ada for by TxPipe Dolos: Maintaining Cardano's Lightweight Data Node, Year 2	YES	The Dolos by TxPipe proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure and research excellence because the deliverables target a mature, non-Haskell alternative node implementation that directly decentralizes data access. The proposal is expected to drive sustained protocol-level engagement and support long-term network resilience by safeguarding critical node diversity. Furthermore, the team has a proven track record of continuous infrastructure delivery and verifiable software releases across prior cycles, and the budget is appropriately justified given a clean cost structure for a part-time maintainer that features a transparent return-to-treasury clause for unused contingency reserves. However, the proposal would benefit from less generic milestone definitions that commit to specific protocol-version readiness for upcoming hard forks and more defined deliverables to support its speculative AI-integration scope. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8syhyg4hw	Withdraw 1,310,960 ada for Hardware Wallet Maintenance 2026	NO	The Hardware Wallet Maintenance 2026 proposal has potential to contribute to security, continuity, and ecosystem access as the deliverables target a critical access layer to ensure ongoing hardware wallet compatibility for ADA holders. However, the budget is not appropriately justified and compared to previous funding cycles for similar scopes seems too high. Additionally, the project presents substantial execution and accountability risks, evidenced by incomplete milestones and significant delivery delays in the 2025 cycle, alongside a repository changelog that suggests an undocumented complete rewrite rather than routine maintenance. Without explicit clarifications regarding vendor responsibilities, itemized cost increases, and structured milestone definitions managed via clear, centralized ecosystem demand, the current proposal lacks the necessary transparency for public funding. Based on this, CF votes No.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sxypfkyr	Withdraw 1,193,000 ada for Intersect Technical Steering Committee Support	YES	IntersectTSC credibly contributes to the development of Cardano governance and supports infrastructure and research excellence. The proposed milestones strongly align with the strategic priorities and 'Our Cardano' principles by funding critical operations for the Parameter Committee, CIP Editors, and Hard Fork Working Group. The proposal is expected to generate meaningful on-chain activity through direct network usage, transaction volume, governance participation, and enhanced by WP1 expert event engagements. The team has a proven track record of delivering ecosystem grants and meaningful outcomes, as evidenced by their coordination of the Plomin and Chang hard forks. The budget is appropriately justified given the phased milestone structure with clearly defined acceptance criteria and provisions for independent oversight, including independent third-party audit verification via Appold and an absolute return-to-treasury policy for all unspent capital. However, it is recommended that WP1 track active delivery metrics rather than event attendance, and mandate the publication of post-event reports to turn travel into a strategic intelligence asset, while WP3 must enforce its promised total independent recusal framework. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sgx6wlxf	Withdraw 25,400,000 ada for Intersect: Governance coordination and technical stewardship for the Cardano ecosystem	ABSTAIN	This Intersect proposal credibly contributes to open governance coordination, technical stewardship, and ecosystem outreach as the deliverables successfully support the off-chain coordination model outlined in the Cardano 2030 Strategy. However, the immediate impact of its 2026 technical budget to on-chain network growth remains obscured by substantial operational ambiguities. This is because its technical focus risks introducing unnecessary parallel management layers rather than directly driving clean, high-impact technical utility. Furthermore, while the organization has demonstrated experience managing an evolving decentralized landscape over the past two years, the total requested budget of 25,400,000 ADA is not appropriately justified given a lack of granular, itemized baseline financial accounting and clear 2025 actual expenditure statements to verify true value-for-money. Additionally, extensive work packages within the proposal heavily overlap with core software maintenance, repository stewardship, and infrastructure monitoring solutions already maintained by the ecosystem, while the current committee framework introduces administrative overheads that require swift structural streamlining to prioritize tangible, democratic, and measurable outcomes. Based on this, CF votes Abstain.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8s24l0u4y	Withdraw 3,810,423 ada for Mithril Protocol	YES	The Mithril Protocol proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure, scalability, and research excellence by providing critical light-client verification models, Layer 2 anchoring primitives, and SNARK-based certificate compression frameworks. The proposal is expected to drive long-term protocol maintainability, cross-chain interoperability, and future-proof network resilience, thereby justifying treasury investment. Furthermore, the team has a proven track record of peer-reviewed engineering delivery and technical execution, and the budget is appropriately justified, as the requested funding is consistent with the strategic importance of the core infrastructure tracks. However, the proposal would benefit from a clearer, itemized breakdown of staffing costs and full-time equivalent (FTE) allocations to address headline cost concerns, as well as a more explicit articulation of broader system impacts regarding network decentralization and production wallet integration pathways. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8svfsvefn	Withdraw 1,162,746 ada for MLabs Core Tool Maintenance & Enhancement: Plutarch and Ply	YES	The MLabs Core Tool Maintenance & Enhancement proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure and developer experience by providing essential maintenance and ongoing enhancements for widely used developer tools. While maintenance itself is not expected to generate immediate on-chain activity, safeguarding heavily used builder infrastructure protects the ecosystem from severe disruption and ensures that future transaction volume and adoption remain sustainable. Furthermore, the team has a demonstrated track record of delivering foundational developer tools, and the budget is appropriately justified given that it represents a fairly reasonable and standard funding request for specialized repository oversight. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sw64d667	Withdraw 540,750 ada for Oura by TxPipe: Maintaining Cardano’s Event Pipeline	YES	The Oura by TxPipe proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure, developer decentralization, and ecosystem accessibility by providing essential open-source event data pipeline tooling that directly benefits a wide range of active deployments. The proposal is expected to drive sustained protocol-level engagement and protect ecosystem growth from the adverse risks of critical tool attrition to justify treasury investment. Furthermore, the team has established a reliable track record of building foundational developer solutions, and the budget is appropriately justified given that the funding request is neither excessive nor unrealistic for a dedicated maintenance resource. However, the proposal would benefit from increased clarity regarding its SLAs and explicit expectations for the full-time maintainer. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8ssd0ztd8	Withdraw 540,750 ada for Pallas by TxPipe: Maintaining Cardano's Core Rust Libraries, Year 2	YES	The Pallas by TxPipe proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure and research excellence because the deliverables target core, low-level building blocks that directly support critical downstream network dependencies like Amaru. The proposal is expected to drive sustained protocol-level engagement and safeguard foundational infrastructure that justifies treasury investment. Furthermore, the team has demonstrated the necessary expertise to maintain the solution, and the budget is appropriately justified given the essential utility and ongoing ecosystem reliance on the repository. However, the proposal would benefit from clearer resource guarantees to ensure the allocated developer actively manages and maintains the codebase. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sj72rg72	Withdraw 1,684,050 ada for Tx3 by TxPipe: Open API Layer for Cardano's dApp Protocols	ABSTAIN	The Tx3 by TxPipe proposal has potential to contribute to adoption, utility, and ecosystem growth as the deliverables target a standardized open interface layer, multi-language SDKs, and agent-facing tools designed to make decentralized protocols discoverable and composable. While this proposal has potential to drive future protocol-level engagement and enhance developer experiences, its immediate on-chain impact remains prospective rather than proven. Although the team has demonstrated a credible foundation with active public repositories and strong strategic alignment, the budget is not appropriately justified given an overly broad 12-month scope backed by a thin financial breakdown. Additionally, the proposal lacks crucial technical and governance evidence, including a specific protocol candidate list, detailed FTE allocations, cloud sizing parameters, explicit SLA assumptions, and concrete acceptance criteria. Based on this, CF votes Abstain.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8s5z9qdza	Withdraw 540,750 ada for UTxO RPC by TxPipe: Maintaining Cardano’s Integration Standard, Year 2.	YES	The UTxO RPC by TxPipe proposal credibly contributes to ecosystem growth, infrastructure, and interoperability by providing a standardized integration surface and multi-language SDKs that systematically reduce developer friction. The proposal is expected to drive sustained protocol-level engagement by reinforcing node and client diversity across key projects like Amaru, Dingo, and the Haskell Cardano node that justifies treasury investment. Furthermore, the team has demonstrated a specialized track record as a protocol maintainer with strong public code and runtime evidence, and the budget is appropriately justified given the essential nature of shared open infrastructure. However, the proposal would benefit from increased specificity in its milestone definitions, including clearly defined maintenance SLAs, explicit mapping for version compatibility targets, and proper license file cleanup across all active repositories. Based on this, CF votes Yes.

This document includes the Cardano Foundation’s voting decisions and individual voting rationales for the 11 Treasury Withdrawal governance actions submitted following the Intersect-facilitated budget process.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

Our approach is designed to ensure both transparency and efficiency, applying a consistent evaluation framework (see the “Cardano Foundation Voting Decisions for the 2026 Intersect Budget Process”) to each proposal and presenting our reasoning in a single, comprehensive document.

No material changes have been made to the individual proposals since the budget proposals were approved in Hydra Voting, therefore our votes on these withdrawals reflect our original assessment and vote. Our voting decisions on the 11 treasury withdrawals are made available in the table below.

Fund administration clarity is an important consideration for our voting decisions. Our expectation is that expect Intersect, as administrator, will manage funds diligently, provide public transparency on contracts, and ensure robust oversight, holding recipients accountable for deliverables.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation’s votes on these 11 treasury withdrawal governance actions are the direct execution of a single, comprehensive review process that began during the Hydra Voting phase. Although we present one aggregate rationale for efficiency, each proposal and governance action was individually assessed against a consistent framework anchored in our publicly stated principles.

Voting Record

Governance Action ID	Title	Vote	Rationale
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sqcw2nc5	Withdraw 3,961,538 ada for Bringing Real-World Payments to Cardano with Wirex	YES	The Wirex proposal credibly contributes to adoption and utility because the deliverables provide card-based financial services and open payment rails linked to on-chain balances. The proposal is expected to expand real-world payment utility and leverage Wirex's established scale to create a plausible path toward increased ecosystem usage to justify treasury investment. The budget justification would benefit from establishing explicit Cardano-specific user migration volumes, ADA spending targets, and a delineation of open-source components. However, the team demonstrates a strong operational history and extensive multi-jurisdictional transaction experience. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sztttste	Withdraw 540,750 ada for by TxPipe Dolos: Maintaining Cardano's Lightweight Data Node, Year 2	YES	The Dolos by TxPipe proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure and research excellence because the deliverables target a mature, non-Haskell alternative node implementation that directly decentralizes data access. The proposal is expected to drive sustained protocol-level engagement and support long-term network resilience by safeguarding critical node diversity. Furthermore, the team has a proven track record of continuous infrastructure delivery and verifiable software releases across prior cycles, and the budget is appropriately justified given a clean cost structure for a part-time maintainer that features a transparent return-to-treasury clause for unused contingency reserves. However, the proposal would benefit from less generic milestone definitions that commit to specific protocol-version readiness for upcoming hard forks and more defined deliverables to support its speculative AI-integration scope. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8syhyg4hw	Withdraw 1,310,960 ada for Hardware Wallet Maintenance 2026	NO	The Hardware Wallet Maintenance 2026 proposal has potential to contribute to security, continuity, and ecosystem access as the deliverables target a critical access layer to ensure ongoing hardware wallet compatibility for ADA holders. However, the budget is not appropriately justified and compared to previous funding cycles for similar scopes seems too high. Additionally, the project presents substantial execution and accountability risks, evidenced by incomplete milestones and significant delivery delays in the 2025 cycle, alongside a repository changelog that suggests an undocumented complete rewrite rather than routine maintenance. Without explicit clarifications regarding vendor responsibilities, itemized cost increases, and structured milestone definitions managed via clear, centralized ecosystem demand, the current proposal lacks the necessary transparency for public funding. Based on this, CF votes No.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sxypfkyr	Withdraw 1,193,000 ada for Intersect Technical Steering Committee Support	YES	IntersectTSC credibly contributes to the development of Cardano governance and supports infrastructure and research excellence. The proposed milestones strongly align with the strategic priorities and 'Our Cardano' principles by funding critical operations for the Parameter Committee, CIP Editors, and Hard Fork Working Group. The proposal is expected to generate meaningful on-chain activity through direct network usage, transaction volume, governance participation, and enhanced by WP1 expert event engagements. The team has a proven track record of delivering ecosystem grants and meaningful outcomes, as evidenced by their coordination of the Plomin and Chang hard forks. The budget is appropriately justified given the phased milestone structure with clearly defined acceptance criteria and provisions for independent oversight, including independent third-party audit verification via Appold and an absolute return-to-treasury policy for all unspent capital. However, it is recommended that WP1 track active delivery metrics rather than event attendance, and mandate the publication of post-event reports to turn travel into a strategic intelligence asset, while WP3 must enforce its promised total independent recusal framework. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sgx6wlxf	Withdraw 25,400,000 ada for Intersect: Governance coordination and technical stewardship for the Cardano ecosystem	ABSTAIN	This Intersect proposal credibly contributes to open governance coordination, technical stewardship, and ecosystem outreach as the deliverables successfully support the off-chain coordination model outlined in the Cardano 2030 Strategy. However, the immediate impact of its 2026 technical budget to on-chain network growth remains obscured by substantial operational ambiguities. This is because its technical focus risks introducing unnecessary parallel management layers rather than directly driving clean, high-impact technical utility. Furthermore, while the organization has demonstrated experience managing an evolving decentralized landscape over the past two years, the total requested budget of 25,400,000 ADA is not appropriately justified given a lack of granular, itemized baseline financial accounting and clear 2025 actual expenditure statements to verify true value-for-money. Additionally, extensive work packages within the proposal heavily overlap with core software maintenance, repository stewardship, and infrastructure monitoring solutions already maintained by the ecosystem, while the current committee framework introduces administrative overheads that require swift structural streamlining to prioritize tangible, democratic, and measurable outcomes. Based on this, CF votes Abstain.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8s24l0u4y	Withdraw 3,810,423 ada for Mithril Protocol	YES	The Mithril Protocol proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure, scalability, and research excellence by providing critical light-client verification models, Layer 2 anchoring primitives, and SNARK-based certificate compression frameworks. The proposal is expected to drive long-term protocol maintainability, cross-chain interoperability, and future-proof network resilience, thereby justifying treasury investment. Furthermore, the team has a proven track record of peer-reviewed engineering delivery and technical execution, and the budget is appropriately justified, as the requested funding is consistent with the strategic importance of the core infrastructure tracks. However, the proposal would benefit from a clearer, itemized breakdown of staffing costs and full-time equivalent (FTE) allocations to address headline cost concerns, as well as a more explicit articulation of broader system impacts regarding network decentralization and production wallet integration pathways. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8svfsvefn	Withdraw 1,162,746 ada for MLabs Core Tool Maintenance & Enhancement: Plutarch and Ply	YES	The MLabs Core Tool Maintenance & Enhancement proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure and developer experience by providing essential maintenance and ongoing enhancements for widely used developer tools. While maintenance itself is not expected to generate immediate on-chain activity, safeguarding heavily used builder infrastructure protects the ecosystem from severe disruption and ensures that future transaction volume and adoption remain sustainable. Furthermore, the team has a demonstrated track record of delivering foundational developer tools, and the budget is appropriately justified given that it represents a fairly reasonable and standard funding request for specialized repository oversight. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sw64d667	Withdraw 540,750 ada for Oura by TxPipe: Maintaining Cardano’s Event Pipeline	YES	The Oura by TxPipe proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure, developer decentralization, and ecosystem accessibility by providing essential open-source event data pipeline tooling that directly benefits a wide range of active deployments. The proposal is expected to drive sustained protocol-level engagement and protect ecosystem growth from the adverse risks of critical tool attrition to justify treasury investment. Furthermore, the team has established a reliable track record of building foundational developer solutions, and the budget is appropriately justified given that the funding request is neither excessive nor unrealistic for a dedicated maintenance resource. However, the proposal would benefit from increased clarity regarding its SLAs and explicit expectations for the full-time maintainer. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8ssd0ztd8	Withdraw 540,750 ada for Pallas by TxPipe: Maintaining Cardano's Core Rust Libraries, Year 2	YES	The Pallas by TxPipe proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure and research excellence because the deliverables target core, low-level building blocks that directly support critical downstream network dependencies like Amaru. The proposal is expected to drive sustained protocol-level engagement and safeguard foundational infrastructure that justifies treasury investment. Furthermore, the team has demonstrated the necessary expertise to maintain the solution, and the budget is appropriately justified given the essential utility and ongoing ecosystem reliance on the repository. However, the proposal would benefit from clearer resource guarantees to ensure the allocated developer actively manages and maintains the codebase. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sj72rg72	Withdraw 1,684,050 ada for Tx3 by TxPipe: Open API Layer for Cardano's dApp Protocols	ABSTAIN	The Tx3 by TxPipe proposal has potential to contribute to adoption, utility, and ecosystem growth as the deliverables target a standardized open interface layer, multi-language SDKs, and agent-facing tools designed to make decentralized protocols discoverable and composable. While this proposal has potential to drive future protocol-level engagement and enhance developer experiences, its immediate on-chain impact remains prospective rather than proven. Although the team has demonstrated a credible foundation with active public repositories and strong strategic alignment, the budget is not appropriately justified given an overly broad 12-month scope backed by a thin financial breakdown. Additionally, the proposal lacks crucial technical and governance evidence, including a specific protocol candidate list, detailed FTE allocations, cloud sizing parameters, explicit SLA assumptions, and concrete acceptance criteria. Based on this, CF votes Abstain.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8s5z9qdza	Withdraw 540,750 ada for UTxO RPC by TxPipe: Maintaining Cardano’s Integration Standard, Year 2.	YES	The UTxO RPC by TxPipe proposal credibly contributes to ecosystem growth, infrastructure, and interoperability by providing a standardized integration surface and multi-language SDKs that systematically reduce developer friction. The proposal is expected to drive sustained protocol-level engagement by reinforcing node and client diversity across key projects like Amaru, Dingo, and the Haskell Cardano node that justifies treasury investment. Furthermore, the team has demonstrated a specialized track record as a protocol maintainer with strong public code and runtime evidence, and the budget is appropriately justified given the essential nature of shared open infrastructure. However, the proposal would benefit from increased specificity in its milestone definitions, including clearly defined maintenance SLAs, explicit mapping for version compatibility targets, and proper license file cleanup across all active repositories. Based on this, CF votes Yes.

This document includes the Cardano Foundation’s voting decisions and individual voting rationales for the 11 Treasury Withdrawal governance actions submitted following the Intersect-facilitated budget process.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

Our approach is designed to ensure both transparency and efficiency, applying a consistent evaluation framework (see the “Cardano Foundation Voting Decisions for the 2026 Intersect Budget Process”) to each proposal and presenting our reasoning in a single, comprehensive document.

No material changes have been made to the individual proposals since the budget proposals were approved in Hydra Voting, therefore our votes on these withdrawals reflect our original assessment and vote. Our voting decisions on the 11 treasury withdrawals are made available in the table below.

Fund administration clarity is an important consideration for our voting decisions. Our expectation is that expect Intersect, as administrator, will manage funds diligently, provide public transparency on contracts, and ensure robust oversight, holding recipients accountable for deliverables.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation’s votes on these 11 treasury withdrawal governance actions are the direct execution of a single, comprehensive review process that began during the Hydra Voting phase. Although we present one aggregate rationale for efficiency, each proposal and governance action was individually assessed against a consistent framework anchored in our publicly stated principles.

Voting Record

Governance Action ID	Title	Vote	Rationale
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sqcw2nc5	Withdraw 3,961,538 ada for Bringing Real-World Payments to Cardano with Wirex	YES	The Wirex proposal credibly contributes to adoption and utility because the deliverables provide card-based financial services and open payment rails linked to on-chain balances. The proposal is expected to expand real-world payment utility and leverage Wirex's established scale to create a plausible path toward increased ecosystem usage to justify treasury investment. The budget justification would benefit from establishing explicit Cardano-specific user migration volumes, ADA spending targets, and a delineation of open-source components. However, the team demonstrates a strong operational history and extensive multi-jurisdictional transaction experience. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sztttste	Withdraw 540,750 ada for by TxPipe Dolos: Maintaining Cardano's Lightweight Data Node, Year 2	YES	The Dolos by TxPipe proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure and research excellence because the deliverables target a mature, non-Haskell alternative node implementation that directly decentralizes data access. The proposal is expected to drive sustained protocol-level engagement and support long-term network resilience by safeguarding critical node diversity. Furthermore, the team has a proven track record of continuous infrastructure delivery and verifiable software releases across prior cycles, and the budget is appropriately justified given a clean cost structure for a part-time maintainer that features a transparent return-to-treasury clause for unused contingency reserves. However, the proposal would benefit from less generic milestone definitions that commit to specific protocol-version readiness for upcoming hard forks and more defined deliverables to support its speculative AI-integration scope. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8syhyg4hw	Withdraw 1,310,960 ada for Hardware Wallet Maintenance 2026	NO	The Hardware Wallet Maintenance 2026 proposal has potential to contribute to security, continuity, and ecosystem access as the deliverables target a critical access layer to ensure ongoing hardware wallet compatibility for ADA holders. However, the budget is not appropriately justified and compared to previous funding cycles for similar scopes seems too high. Additionally, the project presents substantial execution and accountability risks, evidenced by incomplete milestones and significant delivery delays in the 2025 cycle, alongside a repository changelog that suggests an undocumented complete rewrite rather than routine maintenance. Without explicit clarifications regarding vendor responsibilities, itemized cost increases, and structured milestone definitions managed via clear, centralized ecosystem demand, the current proposal lacks the necessary transparency for public funding. Based on this, CF votes No.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sxypfkyr	Withdraw 1,193,000 ada for Intersect Technical Steering Committee Support	YES	IntersectTSC credibly contributes to the development of Cardano governance and supports infrastructure and research excellence. The proposed milestones strongly align with the strategic priorities and 'Our Cardano' principles by funding critical operations for the Parameter Committee, CIP Editors, and Hard Fork Working Group. The proposal is expected to generate meaningful on-chain activity through direct network usage, transaction volume, governance participation, and enhanced by WP1 expert event engagements. The team has a proven track record of delivering ecosystem grants and meaningful outcomes, as evidenced by their coordination of the Plomin and Chang hard forks. The budget is appropriately justified given the phased milestone structure with clearly defined acceptance criteria and provisions for independent oversight, including independent third-party audit verification via Appold and an absolute return-to-treasury policy for all unspent capital. However, it is recommended that WP1 track active delivery metrics rather than event attendance, and mandate the publication of post-event reports to turn travel into a strategic intelligence asset, while WP3 must enforce its promised total independent recusal framework. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sgx6wlxf	Withdraw 25,400,000 ada for Intersect: Governance coordination and technical stewardship for the Cardano ecosystem	ABSTAIN	This Intersect proposal credibly contributes to open governance coordination, technical stewardship, and ecosystem outreach as the deliverables successfully support the off-chain coordination model outlined in the Cardano 2030 Strategy. However, the immediate impact of its 2026 technical budget to on-chain network growth remains obscured by substantial operational ambiguities. This is because its technical focus risks introducing unnecessary parallel management layers rather than directly driving clean, high-impact technical utility. Furthermore, while the organization has demonstrated experience managing an evolving decentralized landscape over the past two years, the total requested budget of 25,400,000 ADA is not appropriately justified given a lack of granular, itemized baseline financial accounting and clear 2025 actual expenditure statements to verify true value-for-money. Additionally, extensive work packages within the proposal heavily overlap with core software maintenance, repository stewardship, and infrastructure monitoring solutions already maintained by the ecosystem, while the current committee framework introduces administrative overheads that require swift structural streamlining to prioritize tangible, democratic, and measurable outcomes. Based on this, CF votes Abstain.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8s24l0u4y	Withdraw 3,810,423 ada for Mithril Protocol	YES	The Mithril Protocol proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure, scalability, and research excellence by providing critical light-client verification models, Layer 2 anchoring primitives, and SNARK-based certificate compression frameworks. The proposal is expected to drive long-term protocol maintainability, cross-chain interoperability, and future-proof network resilience, thereby justifying treasury investment. Furthermore, the team has a proven track record of peer-reviewed engineering delivery and technical execution, and the budget is appropriately justified, as the requested funding is consistent with the strategic importance of the core infrastructure tracks. However, the proposal would benefit from a clearer, itemized breakdown of staffing costs and full-time equivalent (FTE) allocations to address headline cost concerns, as well as a more explicit articulation of broader system impacts regarding network decentralization and production wallet integration pathways. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8svfsvefn	Withdraw 1,162,746 ada for MLabs Core Tool Maintenance & Enhancement: Plutarch and Ply	YES	The MLabs Core Tool Maintenance & Enhancement proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure and developer experience by providing essential maintenance and ongoing enhancements for widely used developer tools. While maintenance itself is not expected to generate immediate on-chain activity, safeguarding heavily used builder infrastructure protects the ecosystem from severe disruption and ensures that future transaction volume and adoption remain sustainable. Furthermore, the team has a demonstrated track record of delivering foundational developer tools, and the budget is appropriately justified given that it represents a fairly reasonable and standard funding request for specialized repository oversight. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sw64d667	Withdraw 540,750 ada for Oura by TxPipe: Maintaining Cardano’s Event Pipeline	YES	The Oura by TxPipe proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure, developer decentralization, and ecosystem accessibility by providing essential open-source event data pipeline tooling that directly benefits a wide range of active deployments. The proposal is expected to drive sustained protocol-level engagement and protect ecosystem growth from the adverse risks of critical tool attrition to justify treasury investment. Furthermore, the team has established a reliable track record of building foundational developer solutions, and the budget is appropriately justified given that the funding request is neither excessive nor unrealistic for a dedicated maintenance resource. However, the proposal would benefit from increased clarity regarding its SLAs and explicit expectations for the full-time maintainer. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8ssd0ztd8	Withdraw 540,750 ada for Pallas by TxPipe: Maintaining Cardano's Core Rust Libraries, Year 2	YES	The Pallas by TxPipe proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure and research excellence because the deliverables target core, low-level building blocks that directly support critical downstream network dependencies like Amaru. The proposal is expected to drive sustained protocol-level engagement and safeguard foundational infrastructure that justifies treasury investment. Furthermore, the team has demonstrated the necessary expertise to maintain the solution, and the budget is appropriately justified given the essential utility and ongoing ecosystem reliance on the repository. However, the proposal would benefit from clearer resource guarantees to ensure the allocated developer actively manages and maintains the codebase. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sj72rg72	Withdraw 1,684,050 ada for Tx3 by TxPipe: Open API Layer for Cardano's dApp Protocols	ABSTAIN	The Tx3 by TxPipe proposal has potential to contribute to adoption, utility, and ecosystem growth as the deliverables target a standardized open interface layer, multi-language SDKs, and agent-facing tools designed to make decentralized protocols discoverable and composable. While this proposal has potential to drive future protocol-level engagement and enhance developer experiences, its immediate on-chain impact remains prospective rather than proven. Although the team has demonstrated a credible foundation with active public repositories and strong strategic alignment, the budget is not appropriately justified given an overly broad 12-month scope backed by a thin financial breakdown. Additionally, the proposal lacks crucial technical and governance evidence, including a specific protocol candidate list, detailed FTE allocations, cloud sizing parameters, explicit SLA assumptions, and concrete acceptance criteria. Based on this, CF votes Abstain.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8s5z9qdza	Withdraw 540,750 ada for UTxO RPC by TxPipe: Maintaining Cardano’s Integration Standard, Year 2.	YES	The UTxO RPC by TxPipe proposal credibly contributes to ecosystem growth, infrastructure, and interoperability by providing a standardized integration surface and multi-language SDKs that systematically reduce developer friction. The proposal is expected to drive sustained protocol-level engagement by reinforcing node and client diversity across key projects like Amaru, Dingo, and the Haskell Cardano node that justifies treasury investment. Furthermore, the team has demonstrated a specialized track record as a protocol maintainer with strong public code and runtime evidence, and the budget is appropriately justified given the essential nature of shared open infrastructure. However, the proposal would benefit from increased specificity in its milestone definitions, including clearly defined maintenance SLAs, explicit mapping for version compatibility targets, and proper license file cleanup across all active repositories. Based on this, CF votes Yes.

This document includes the Cardano Foundation’s voting decisions and individual voting rationales for the 11 Treasury Withdrawal governance actions submitted following the Intersect-facilitated budget process.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

Our approach is designed to ensure both transparency and efficiency, applying a consistent evaluation framework (see the “Cardano Foundation Voting Decisions for the 2026 Intersect Budget Process”) to each proposal and presenting our reasoning in a single, comprehensive document.

No material changes have been made to the individual proposals since the budget proposals were approved in Hydra Voting, therefore our votes on these withdrawals reflect our original assessment and vote. Our voting decisions on the 11 treasury withdrawals are made available in the table below.

Fund administration clarity is an important consideration for our voting decisions. Our expectation is that expect Intersect, as administrator, will manage funds diligently, provide public transparency on contracts, and ensure robust oversight, holding recipients accountable for deliverables.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation’s votes on these 11 treasury withdrawal governance actions are the direct execution of a single, comprehensive review process that began during the Hydra Voting phase. Although we present one aggregate rationale for efficiency, each proposal and governance action was individually assessed against a consistent framework anchored in our publicly stated principles.

Voting Record

Governance Action ID	Title	Vote	Rationale
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sqcw2nc5	Withdraw 3,961,538 ada for Bringing Real-World Payments to Cardano with Wirex	YES	The Wirex proposal credibly contributes to adoption and utility because the deliverables provide card-based financial services and open payment rails linked to on-chain balances. The proposal is expected to expand real-world payment utility and leverage Wirex's established scale to create a plausible path toward increased ecosystem usage to justify treasury investment. The budget justification would benefit from establishing explicit Cardano-specific user migration volumes, ADA spending targets, and a delineation of open-source components. However, the team demonstrates a strong operational history and extensive multi-jurisdictional transaction experience. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sztttste	Withdraw 540,750 ada for by TxPipe Dolos: Maintaining Cardano's Lightweight Data Node, Year 2	YES	The Dolos by TxPipe proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure and research excellence because the deliverables target a mature, non-Haskell alternative node implementation that directly decentralizes data access. The proposal is expected to drive sustained protocol-level engagement and support long-term network resilience by safeguarding critical node diversity. Furthermore, the team has a proven track record of continuous infrastructure delivery and verifiable software releases across prior cycles, and the budget is appropriately justified given a clean cost structure for a part-time maintainer that features a transparent return-to-treasury clause for unused contingency reserves. However, the proposal would benefit from less generic milestone definitions that commit to specific protocol-version readiness for upcoming hard forks and more defined deliverables to support its speculative AI-integration scope. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8syhyg4hw	Withdraw 1,310,960 ada for Hardware Wallet Maintenance 2026	NO	The Hardware Wallet Maintenance 2026 proposal has potential to contribute to security, continuity, and ecosystem access as the deliverables target a critical access layer to ensure ongoing hardware wallet compatibility for ADA holders. However, the budget is not appropriately justified and compared to previous funding cycles for similar scopes seems too high. Additionally, the project presents substantial execution and accountability risks, evidenced by incomplete milestones and significant delivery delays in the 2025 cycle, alongside a repository changelog that suggests an undocumented complete rewrite rather than routine maintenance. Without explicit clarifications regarding vendor responsibilities, itemized cost increases, and structured milestone definitions managed via clear, centralized ecosystem demand, the current proposal lacks the necessary transparency for public funding. Based on this, CF votes No.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sxypfkyr	Withdraw 1,193,000 ada for Intersect Technical Steering Committee Support	YES	IntersectTSC credibly contributes to the development of Cardano governance and supports infrastructure and research excellence. The proposed milestones strongly align with the strategic priorities and 'Our Cardano' principles by funding critical operations for the Parameter Committee, CIP Editors, and Hard Fork Working Group. The proposal is expected to generate meaningful on-chain activity through direct network usage, transaction volume, governance participation, and enhanced by WP1 expert event engagements. The team has a proven track record of delivering ecosystem grants and meaningful outcomes, as evidenced by their coordination of the Plomin and Chang hard forks. The budget is appropriately justified given the phased milestone structure with clearly defined acceptance criteria and provisions for independent oversight, including independent third-party audit verification via Appold and an absolute return-to-treasury policy for all unspent capital. However, it is recommended that WP1 track active delivery metrics rather than event attendance, and mandate the publication of post-event reports to turn travel into a strategic intelligence asset, while WP3 must enforce its promised total independent recusal framework. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sgx6wlxf	Withdraw 25,400,000 ada for Intersect: Governance coordination and technical stewardship for the Cardano ecosystem	ABSTAIN	This Intersect proposal credibly contributes to open governance coordination, technical stewardship, and ecosystem outreach as the deliverables successfully support the off-chain coordination model outlined in the Cardano 2030 Strategy. However, the immediate impact of its 2026 technical budget to on-chain network growth remains obscured by substantial operational ambiguities. This is because its technical focus risks introducing unnecessary parallel management layers rather than directly driving clean, high-impact technical utility. Furthermore, while the organization has demonstrated experience managing an evolving decentralized landscape over the past two years, the total requested budget of 25,400,000 ADA is not appropriately justified given a lack of granular, itemized baseline financial accounting and clear 2025 actual expenditure statements to verify true value-for-money. Additionally, extensive work packages within the proposal heavily overlap with core software maintenance, repository stewardship, and infrastructure monitoring solutions already maintained by the ecosystem, while the current committee framework introduces administrative overheads that require swift structural streamlining to prioritize tangible, democratic, and measurable outcomes. Based on this, CF votes Abstain.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8s24l0u4y	Withdraw 3,810,423 ada for Mithril Protocol	YES	The Mithril Protocol proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure, scalability, and research excellence by providing critical light-client verification models, Layer 2 anchoring primitives, and SNARK-based certificate compression frameworks. The proposal is expected to drive long-term protocol maintainability, cross-chain interoperability, and future-proof network resilience, thereby justifying treasury investment. Furthermore, the team has a proven track record of peer-reviewed engineering delivery and technical execution, and the budget is appropriately justified, as the requested funding is consistent with the strategic importance of the core infrastructure tracks. However, the proposal would benefit from a clearer, itemized breakdown of staffing costs and full-time equivalent (FTE) allocations to address headline cost concerns, as well as a more explicit articulation of broader system impacts regarding network decentralization and production wallet integration pathways. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8svfsvefn	Withdraw 1,162,746 ada for MLabs Core Tool Maintenance & Enhancement: Plutarch and Ply	YES	The MLabs Core Tool Maintenance & Enhancement proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure and developer experience by providing essential maintenance and ongoing enhancements for widely used developer tools. While maintenance itself is not expected to generate immediate on-chain activity, safeguarding heavily used builder infrastructure protects the ecosystem from severe disruption and ensures that future transaction volume and adoption remain sustainable. Furthermore, the team has a demonstrated track record of delivering foundational developer tools, and the budget is appropriately justified given that it represents a fairly reasonable and standard funding request for specialized repository oversight. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sw64d667	Withdraw 540,750 ada for Oura by TxPipe: Maintaining Cardano’s Event Pipeline	YES	The Oura by TxPipe proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure, developer decentralization, and ecosystem accessibility by providing essential open-source event data pipeline tooling that directly benefits a wide range of active deployments. The proposal is expected to drive sustained protocol-level engagement and protect ecosystem growth from the adverse risks of critical tool attrition to justify treasury investment. Furthermore, the team has established a reliable track record of building foundational developer solutions, and the budget is appropriately justified given that the funding request is neither excessive nor unrealistic for a dedicated maintenance resource. However, the proposal would benefit from increased clarity regarding its SLAs and explicit expectations for the full-time maintainer. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8ssd0ztd8	Withdraw 540,750 ada for Pallas by TxPipe: Maintaining Cardano's Core Rust Libraries, Year 2	YES	The Pallas by TxPipe proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure and research excellence because the deliverables target core, low-level building blocks that directly support critical downstream network dependencies like Amaru. The proposal is expected to drive sustained protocol-level engagement and safeguard foundational infrastructure that justifies treasury investment. Furthermore, the team has demonstrated the necessary expertise to maintain the solution, and the budget is appropriately justified given the essential utility and ongoing ecosystem reliance on the repository. However, the proposal would benefit from clearer resource guarantees to ensure the allocated developer actively manages and maintains the codebase. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sj72rg72	Withdraw 1,684,050 ada for Tx3 by TxPipe: Open API Layer for Cardano's dApp Protocols	ABSTAIN	The Tx3 by TxPipe proposal has potential to contribute to adoption, utility, and ecosystem growth as the deliverables target a standardized open interface layer, multi-language SDKs, and agent-facing tools designed to make decentralized protocols discoverable and composable. While this proposal has potential to drive future protocol-level engagement and enhance developer experiences, its immediate on-chain impact remains prospective rather than proven. Although the team has demonstrated a credible foundation with active public repositories and strong strategic alignment, the budget is not appropriately justified given an overly broad 12-month scope backed by a thin financial breakdown. Additionally, the proposal lacks crucial technical and governance evidence, including a specific protocol candidate list, detailed FTE allocations, cloud sizing parameters, explicit SLA assumptions, and concrete acceptance criteria. Based on this, CF votes Abstain.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8s5z9qdza	Withdraw 540,750 ada for UTxO RPC by TxPipe: Maintaining Cardano’s Integration Standard, Year 2.	YES	The UTxO RPC by TxPipe proposal credibly contributes to ecosystem growth, infrastructure, and interoperability by providing a standardized integration surface and multi-language SDKs that systematically reduce developer friction. The proposal is expected to drive sustained protocol-level engagement by reinforcing node and client diversity across key projects like Amaru, Dingo, and the Haskell Cardano node that justifies treasury investment. Furthermore, the team has demonstrated a specialized track record as a protocol maintainer with strong public code and runtime evidence, and the budget is appropriately justified given the essential nature of shared open infrastructure. However, the proposal would benefit from increased specificity in its milestone definitions, including clearly defined maintenance SLAs, explicit mapping for version compatibility targets, and proper license file cleanup across all active repositories. Based on this, CF votes Yes.

This document includes the Cardano Foundation’s voting decisions and individual voting rationales for the 11 Treasury Withdrawal governance actions submitted following the Intersect-facilitated budget process.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

Our approach is designed to ensure both transparency and efficiency, applying a consistent evaluation framework (see the “Cardano Foundation Voting Decisions for the 2026 Intersect Budget Process”) to each proposal and presenting our reasoning in a single, comprehensive document.

No material changes have been made to the individual proposals since the budget proposals were approved in Hydra Voting, therefore our votes on these withdrawals reflect our original assessment and vote. Our voting decisions on the 11 treasury withdrawals are made available in the table below.

Fund administration clarity is an important consideration for our voting decisions. Our expectation is that expect Intersect, as administrator, will manage funds diligently, provide public transparency on contracts, and ensure robust oversight, holding recipients accountable for deliverables.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation’s votes on these 11 treasury withdrawal governance actions are the direct execution of a single, comprehensive review process that began during the Hydra Voting phase. Although we present one aggregate rationale for efficiency, each proposal and governance action was individually assessed against a consistent framework anchored in our publicly stated principles.

Voting Record

Governance Action ID	Title	Vote	Rationale
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sqcw2nc5	Withdraw 3,961,538 ada for Bringing Real-World Payments to Cardano with Wirex	YES	The Wirex proposal credibly contributes to adoption and utility because the deliverables provide card-based financial services and open payment rails linked to on-chain balances. The proposal is expected to expand real-world payment utility and leverage Wirex's established scale to create a plausible path toward increased ecosystem usage to justify treasury investment. The budget justification would benefit from establishing explicit Cardano-specific user migration volumes, ADA spending targets, and a delineation of open-source components. However, the team demonstrates a strong operational history and extensive multi-jurisdictional transaction experience. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sztttste	Withdraw 540,750 ada for by TxPipe Dolos: Maintaining Cardano's Lightweight Data Node, Year 2	YES	The Dolos by TxPipe proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure and research excellence because the deliverables target a mature, non-Haskell alternative node implementation that directly decentralizes data access. The proposal is expected to drive sustained protocol-level engagement and support long-term network resilience by safeguarding critical node diversity. Furthermore, the team has a proven track record of continuous infrastructure delivery and verifiable software releases across prior cycles, and the budget is appropriately justified given a clean cost structure for a part-time maintainer that features a transparent return-to-treasury clause for unused contingency reserves. However, the proposal would benefit from less generic milestone definitions that commit to specific protocol-version readiness for upcoming hard forks and more defined deliverables to support its speculative AI-integration scope. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8syhyg4hw	Withdraw 1,310,960 ada for Hardware Wallet Maintenance 2026	NO	The Hardware Wallet Maintenance 2026 proposal has potential to contribute to security, continuity, and ecosystem access as the deliverables target a critical access layer to ensure ongoing hardware wallet compatibility for ADA holders. However, the budget is not appropriately justified and compared to previous funding cycles for similar scopes seems too high. Additionally, the project presents substantial execution and accountability risks, evidenced by incomplete milestones and significant delivery delays in the 2025 cycle, alongside a repository changelog that suggests an undocumented complete rewrite rather than routine maintenance. Without explicit clarifications regarding vendor responsibilities, itemized cost increases, and structured milestone definitions managed via clear, centralized ecosystem demand, the current proposal lacks the necessary transparency for public funding. Based on this, CF votes No.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sxypfkyr	Withdraw 1,193,000 ada for Intersect Technical Steering Committee Support	YES	IntersectTSC credibly contributes to the development of Cardano governance and supports infrastructure and research excellence. The proposed milestones strongly align with the strategic priorities and 'Our Cardano' principles by funding critical operations for the Parameter Committee, CIP Editors, and Hard Fork Working Group. The proposal is expected to generate meaningful on-chain activity through direct network usage, transaction volume, governance participation, and enhanced by WP1 expert event engagements. The team has a proven track record of delivering ecosystem grants and meaningful outcomes, as evidenced by their coordination of the Plomin and Chang hard forks. The budget is appropriately justified given the phased milestone structure with clearly defined acceptance criteria and provisions for independent oversight, including independent third-party audit verification via Appold and an absolute return-to-treasury policy for all unspent capital. However, it is recommended that WP1 track active delivery metrics rather than event attendance, and mandate the publication of post-event reports to turn travel into a strategic intelligence asset, while WP3 must enforce its promised total independent recusal framework. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sgx6wlxf	Withdraw 25,400,000 ada for Intersect: Governance coordination and technical stewardship for the Cardano ecosystem	ABSTAIN	This Intersect proposal credibly contributes to open governance coordination, technical stewardship, and ecosystem outreach as the deliverables successfully support the off-chain coordination model outlined in the Cardano 2030 Strategy. However, the immediate impact of its 2026 technical budget to on-chain network growth remains obscured by substantial operational ambiguities. This is because its technical focus risks introducing unnecessary parallel management layers rather than directly driving clean, high-impact technical utility. Furthermore, while the organization has demonstrated experience managing an evolving decentralized landscape over the past two years, the total requested budget of 25,400,000 ADA is not appropriately justified given a lack of granular, itemized baseline financial accounting and clear 2025 actual expenditure statements to verify true value-for-money. Additionally, extensive work packages within the proposal heavily overlap with core software maintenance, repository stewardship, and infrastructure monitoring solutions already maintained by the ecosystem, while the current committee framework introduces administrative overheads that require swift structural streamlining to prioritize tangible, democratic, and measurable outcomes. Based on this, CF votes Abstain.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8s24l0u4y	Withdraw 3,810,423 ada for Mithril Protocol	YES	The Mithril Protocol proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure, scalability, and research excellence by providing critical light-client verification models, Layer 2 anchoring primitives, and SNARK-based certificate compression frameworks. The proposal is expected to drive long-term protocol maintainability, cross-chain interoperability, and future-proof network resilience, thereby justifying treasury investment. Furthermore, the team has a proven track record of peer-reviewed engineering delivery and technical execution, and the budget is appropriately justified, as the requested funding is consistent with the strategic importance of the core infrastructure tracks. However, the proposal would benefit from a clearer, itemized breakdown of staffing costs and full-time equivalent (FTE) allocations to address headline cost concerns, as well as a more explicit articulation of broader system impacts regarding network decentralization and production wallet integration pathways. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8svfsvefn	Withdraw 1,162,746 ada for MLabs Core Tool Maintenance & Enhancement: Plutarch and Ply	YES	The MLabs Core Tool Maintenance & Enhancement proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure and developer experience by providing essential maintenance and ongoing enhancements for widely used developer tools. While maintenance itself is not expected to generate immediate on-chain activity, safeguarding heavily used builder infrastructure protects the ecosystem from severe disruption and ensures that future transaction volume and adoption remain sustainable. Furthermore, the team has a demonstrated track record of delivering foundational developer tools, and the budget is appropriately justified given that it represents a fairly reasonable and standard funding request for specialized repository oversight. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sw64d667	Withdraw 540,750 ada for Oura by TxPipe: Maintaining Cardano’s Event Pipeline	YES	The Oura by TxPipe proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure, developer decentralization, and ecosystem accessibility by providing essential open-source event data pipeline tooling that directly benefits a wide range of active deployments. The proposal is expected to drive sustained protocol-level engagement and protect ecosystem growth from the adverse risks of critical tool attrition to justify treasury investment. Furthermore, the team has established a reliable track record of building foundational developer solutions, and the budget is appropriately justified given that the funding request is neither excessive nor unrealistic for a dedicated maintenance resource. However, the proposal would benefit from increased clarity regarding its SLAs and explicit expectations for the full-time maintainer. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8ssd0ztd8	Withdraw 540,750 ada for Pallas by TxPipe: Maintaining Cardano's Core Rust Libraries, Year 2	YES	The Pallas by TxPipe proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure and research excellence because the deliverables target core, low-level building blocks that directly support critical downstream network dependencies like Amaru. The proposal is expected to drive sustained protocol-level engagement and safeguard foundational infrastructure that justifies treasury investment. Furthermore, the team has demonstrated the necessary expertise to maintain the solution, and the budget is appropriately justified given the essential utility and ongoing ecosystem reliance on the repository. However, the proposal would benefit from clearer resource guarantees to ensure the allocated developer actively manages and maintains the codebase. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sj72rg72	Withdraw 1,684,050 ada for Tx3 by TxPipe: Open API Layer for Cardano's dApp Protocols	ABSTAIN	The Tx3 by TxPipe proposal has potential to contribute to adoption, utility, and ecosystem growth as the deliverables target a standardized open interface layer, multi-language SDKs, and agent-facing tools designed to make decentralized protocols discoverable and composable. While this proposal has potential to drive future protocol-level engagement and enhance developer experiences, its immediate on-chain impact remains prospective rather than proven. Although the team has demonstrated a credible foundation with active public repositories and strong strategic alignment, the budget is not appropriately justified given an overly broad 12-month scope backed by a thin financial breakdown. Additionally, the proposal lacks crucial technical and governance evidence, including a specific protocol candidate list, detailed FTE allocations, cloud sizing parameters, explicit SLA assumptions, and concrete acceptance criteria. Based on this, CF votes Abstain.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8s5z9qdza	Withdraw 540,750 ada for UTxO RPC by TxPipe: Maintaining Cardano’s Integration Standard, Year 2.	YES	The UTxO RPC by TxPipe proposal credibly contributes to ecosystem growth, infrastructure, and interoperability by providing a standardized integration surface and multi-language SDKs that systematically reduce developer friction. The proposal is expected to drive sustained protocol-level engagement by reinforcing node and client diversity across key projects like Amaru, Dingo, and the Haskell Cardano node that justifies treasury investment. Furthermore, the team has demonstrated a specialized track record as a protocol maintainer with strong public code and runtime evidence, and the budget is appropriately justified given the essential nature of shared open infrastructure. However, the proposal would benefit from increased specificity in its milestone definitions, including clearly defined maintenance SLAs, explicit mapping for version compatibility targets, and proper license file cleanup across all active repositories. Based on this, CF votes Yes.

This document includes the Cardano Foundation’s voting decisions and individual voting rationales for the 11 Treasury Withdrawal governance actions submitted following the Intersect-facilitated budget process.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

Our approach is designed to ensure both transparency and efficiency, applying a consistent evaluation framework (see the “Cardano Foundation Voting Decisions for the 2026 Intersect Budget Process”) to each proposal and presenting our reasoning in a single, comprehensive document.

No material changes have been made to the individual proposals since the budget proposals were approved in Hydra Voting, therefore our votes on these withdrawals reflect our original assessment and vote. Our voting decisions on the 11 treasury withdrawals are made available in the table below.

Fund administration clarity is an important consideration for our voting decisions. Our expectation is that expect Intersect, as administrator, will manage funds diligently, provide public transparency on contracts, and ensure robust oversight, holding recipients accountable for deliverables.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation’s votes on these 11 treasury withdrawal governance actions are the direct execution of a single, comprehensive review process that began during the Hydra Voting phase. Although we present one aggregate rationale for efficiency, each proposal and governance action was individually assessed against a consistent framework anchored in our publicly stated principles.

Voting Record

Governance Action ID	Title	Vote	Rationale
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sqcw2nc5	Withdraw 3,961,538 ada for Bringing Real-World Payments to Cardano with Wirex	YES	The Wirex proposal credibly contributes to adoption and utility because the deliverables provide card-based financial services and open payment rails linked to on-chain balances. The proposal is expected to expand real-world payment utility and leverage Wirex's established scale to create a plausible path toward increased ecosystem usage to justify treasury investment. The budget justification would benefit from establishing explicit Cardano-specific user migration volumes, ADA spending targets, and a delineation of open-source components. However, the team demonstrates a strong operational history and extensive multi-jurisdictional transaction experience. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sztttste	Withdraw 540,750 ada for by TxPipe Dolos: Maintaining Cardano's Lightweight Data Node, Year 2	YES	The Dolos by TxPipe proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure and research excellence because the deliverables target a mature, non-Haskell alternative node implementation that directly decentralizes data access. The proposal is expected to drive sustained protocol-level engagement and support long-term network resilience by safeguarding critical node diversity. Furthermore, the team has a proven track record of continuous infrastructure delivery and verifiable software releases across prior cycles, and the budget is appropriately justified given a clean cost structure for a part-time maintainer that features a transparent return-to-treasury clause for unused contingency reserves. However, the proposal would benefit from less generic milestone definitions that commit to specific protocol-version readiness for upcoming hard forks and more defined deliverables to support its speculative AI-integration scope. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8syhyg4hw	Withdraw 1,310,960 ada for Hardware Wallet Maintenance 2026	NO	The Hardware Wallet Maintenance 2026 proposal has potential to contribute to security, continuity, and ecosystem access as the deliverables target a critical access layer to ensure ongoing hardware wallet compatibility for ADA holders. However, the budget is not appropriately justified and compared to previous funding cycles for similar scopes seems too high. Additionally, the project presents substantial execution and accountability risks, evidenced by incomplete milestones and significant delivery delays in the 2025 cycle, alongside a repository changelog that suggests an undocumented complete rewrite rather than routine maintenance. Without explicit clarifications regarding vendor responsibilities, itemized cost increases, and structured milestone definitions managed via clear, centralized ecosystem demand, the current proposal lacks the necessary transparency for public funding. Based on this, CF votes No.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sxypfkyr	Withdraw 1,193,000 ada for Intersect Technical Steering Committee Support	YES	IntersectTSC credibly contributes to the development of Cardano governance and supports infrastructure and research excellence. The proposed milestones strongly align with the strategic priorities and 'Our Cardano' principles by funding critical operations for the Parameter Committee, CIP Editors, and Hard Fork Working Group. The proposal is expected to generate meaningful on-chain activity through direct network usage, transaction volume, governance participation, and enhanced by WP1 expert event engagements. The team has a proven track record of delivering ecosystem grants and meaningful outcomes, as evidenced by their coordination of the Plomin and Chang hard forks. The budget is appropriately justified given the phased milestone structure with clearly defined acceptance criteria and provisions for independent oversight, including independent third-party audit verification via Appold and an absolute return-to-treasury policy for all unspent capital. However, it is recommended that WP1 track active delivery metrics rather than event attendance, and mandate the publication of post-event reports to turn travel into a strategic intelligence asset, while WP3 must enforce its promised total independent recusal framework. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sgx6wlxf	Withdraw 25,400,000 ada for Intersect: Governance coordination and technical stewardship for the Cardano ecosystem	ABSTAIN	This Intersect proposal credibly contributes to open governance coordination, technical stewardship, and ecosystem outreach as the deliverables successfully support the off-chain coordination model outlined in the Cardano 2030 Strategy. However, the immediate impact of its 2026 technical budget to on-chain network growth remains obscured by substantial operational ambiguities. This is because its technical focus risks introducing unnecessary parallel management layers rather than directly driving clean, high-impact technical utility. Furthermore, while the organization has demonstrated experience managing an evolving decentralized landscape over the past two years, the total requested budget of 25,400,000 ADA is not appropriately justified given a lack of granular, itemized baseline financial accounting and clear 2025 actual expenditure statements to verify true value-for-money. Additionally, extensive work packages within the proposal heavily overlap with core software maintenance, repository stewardship, and infrastructure monitoring solutions already maintained by the ecosystem, while the current committee framework introduces administrative overheads that require swift structural streamlining to prioritize tangible, democratic, and measurable outcomes. Based on this, CF votes Abstain.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8s24l0u4y	Withdraw 3,810,423 ada for Mithril Protocol	YES	The Mithril Protocol proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure, scalability, and research excellence by providing critical light-client verification models, Layer 2 anchoring primitives, and SNARK-based certificate compression frameworks. The proposal is expected to drive long-term protocol maintainability, cross-chain interoperability, and future-proof network resilience, thereby justifying treasury investment. Furthermore, the team has a proven track record of peer-reviewed engineering delivery and technical execution, and the budget is appropriately justified, as the requested funding is consistent with the strategic importance of the core infrastructure tracks. However, the proposal would benefit from a clearer, itemized breakdown of staffing costs and full-time equivalent (FTE) allocations to address headline cost concerns, as well as a more explicit articulation of broader system impacts regarding network decentralization and production wallet integration pathways. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8svfsvefn	Withdraw 1,162,746 ada for MLabs Core Tool Maintenance & Enhancement: Plutarch and Ply	YES	The MLabs Core Tool Maintenance & Enhancement proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure and developer experience by providing essential maintenance and ongoing enhancements for widely used developer tools. While maintenance itself is not expected to generate immediate on-chain activity, safeguarding heavily used builder infrastructure protects the ecosystem from severe disruption and ensures that future transaction volume and adoption remain sustainable. Furthermore, the team has a demonstrated track record of delivering foundational developer tools, and the budget is appropriately justified given that it represents a fairly reasonable and standard funding request for specialized repository oversight. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sw64d667	Withdraw 540,750 ada for Oura by TxPipe: Maintaining Cardano’s Event Pipeline	YES	The Oura by TxPipe proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure, developer decentralization, and ecosystem accessibility by providing essential open-source event data pipeline tooling that directly benefits a wide range of active deployments. The proposal is expected to drive sustained protocol-level engagement and protect ecosystem growth from the adverse risks of critical tool attrition to justify treasury investment. Furthermore, the team has established a reliable track record of building foundational developer solutions, and the budget is appropriately justified given that the funding request is neither excessive nor unrealistic for a dedicated maintenance resource. However, the proposal would benefit from increased clarity regarding its SLAs and explicit expectations for the full-time maintainer. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8ssd0ztd8	Withdraw 540,750 ada for Pallas by TxPipe: Maintaining Cardano's Core Rust Libraries, Year 2	YES	The Pallas by TxPipe proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure and research excellence because the deliverables target core, low-level building blocks that directly support critical downstream network dependencies like Amaru. The proposal is expected to drive sustained protocol-level engagement and safeguard foundational infrastructure that justifies treasury investment. Furthermore, the team has demonstrated the necessary expertise to maintain the solution, and the budget is appropriately justified given the essential utility and ongoing ecosystem reliance on the repository. However, the proposal would benefit from clearer resource guarantees to ensure the allocated developer actively manages and maintains the codebase. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sj72rg72	Withdraw 1,684,050 ada for Tx3 by TxPipe: Open API Layer for Cardano's dApp Protocols	ABSTAIN	The Tx3 by TxPipe proposal has potential to contribute to adoption, utility, and ecosystem growth as the deliverables target a standardized open interface layer, multi-language SDKs, and agent-facing tools designed to make decentralized protocols discoverable and composable. While this proposal has potential to drive future protocol-level engagement and enhance developer experiences, its immediate on-chain impact remains prospective rather than proven. Although the team has demonstrated a credible foundation with active public repositories and strong strategic alignment, the budget is not appropriately justified given an overly broad 12-month scope backed by a thin financial breakdown. Additionally, the proposal lacks crucial technical and governance evidence, including a specific protocol candidate list, detailed FTE allocations, cloud sizing parameters, explicit SLA assumptions, and concrete acceptance criteria. Based on this, CF votes Abstain.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8s5z9qdza	Withdraw 540,750 ada for UTxO RPC by TxPipe: Maintaining Cardano’s Integration Standard, Year 2.	YES	The UTxO RPC by TxPipe proposal credibly contributes to ecosystem growth, infrastructure, and interoperability by providing a standardized integration surface and multi-language SDKs that systematically reduce developer friction. The proposal is expected to drive sustained protocol-level engagement by reinforcing node and client diversity across key projects like Amaru, Dingo, and the Haskell Cardano node that justifies treasury investment. Furthermore, the team has demonstrated a specialized track record as a protocol maintainer with strong public code and runtime evidence, and the budget is appropriately justified given the essential nature of shared open infrastructure. However, the proposal would benefit from increased specificity in its milestone definitions, including clearly defined maintenance SLAs, explicit mapping for version compatibility targets, and proper license file cleanup across all active repositories. Based on this, CF votes Yes.

This document includes the Cardano Foundation’s voting decisions and individual voting rationales for the 11 Treasury Withdrawal governance actions submitted following the Intersect-facilitated budget process.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

Our approach is designed to ensure both transparency and efficiency, applying a consistent evaluation framework (see the “Cardano Foundation Voting Decisions for the 2026 Intersect Budget Process”) to each proposal and presenting our reasoning in a single, comprehensive document.

No material changes have been made to the individual proposals since the budget proposals were approved in Hydra Voting, therefore our votes on these withdrawals reflect our original assessment and vote. Our voting decisions on the 11 treasury withdrawals are made available in the table below.

Fund administration clarity is an important consideration for our voting decisions. Our expectation is that expect Intersect, as administrator, will manage funds diligently, provide public transparency on contracts, and ensure robust oversight, holding recipients accountable for deliverables.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation’s votes on these 11 treasury withdrawal governance actions are the direct execution of a single, comprehensive review process that began during the Hydra Voting phase. Although we present one aggregate rationale for efficiency, each proposal and governance action was individually assessed against a consistent framework anchored in our publicly stated principles.

Voting Record

Governance Action ID	Title	Vote	Rationale
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sqcw2nc5	Withdraw 3,961,538 ada for Bringing Real-World Payments to Cardano with Wirex	YES	The Wirex proposal credibly contributes to adoption and utility because the deliverables provide card-based financial services and open payment rails linked to on-chain balances. The proposal is expected to expand real-world payment utility and leverage Wirex's established scale to create a plausible path toward increased ecosystem usage to justify treasury investment. The budget justification would benefit from establishing explicit Cardano-specific user migration volumes, ADA spending targets, and a delineation of open-source components. However, the team demonstrates a strong operational history and extensive multi-jurisdictional transaction experience. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sztttste	Withdraw 540,750 ada for by TxPipe Dolos: Maintaining Cardano's Lightweight Data Node, Year 2	YES	The Dolos by TxPipe proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure and research excellence because the deliverables target a mature, non-Haskell alternative node implementation that directly decentralizes data access. The proposal is expected to drive sustained protocol-level engagement and support long-term network resilience by safeguarding critical node diversity. Furthermore, the team has a proven track record of continuous infrastructure delivery and verifiable software releases across prior cycles, and the budget is appropriately justified given a clean cost structure for a part-time maintainer that features a transparent return-to-treasury clause for unused contingency reserves. However, the proposal would benefit from less generic milestone definitions that commit to specific protocol-version readiness for upcoming hard forks and more defined deliverables to support its speculative AI-integration scope. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8syhyg4hw	Withdraw 1,310,960 ada for Hardware Wallet Maintenance 2026	NO	The Hardware Wallet Maintenance 2026 proposal has potential to contribute to security, continuity, and ecosystem access as the deliverables target a critical access layer to ensure ongoing hardware wallet compatibility for ADA holders. However, the budget is not appropriately justified and compared to previous funding cycles for similar scopes seems too high. Additionally, the project presents substantial execution and accountability risks, evidenced by incomplete milestones and significant delivery delays in the 2025 cycle, alongside a repository changelog that suggests an undocumented complete rewrite rather than routine maintenance. Without explicit clarifications regarding vendor responsibilities, itemized cost increases, and structured milestone definitions managed via clear, centralized ecosystem demand, the current proposal lacks the necessary transparency for public funding. Based on this, CF votes No.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sxypfkyr	Withdraw 1,193,000 ada for Intersect Technical Steering Committee Support	YES	IntersectTSC credibly contributes to the development of Cardano governance and supports infrastructure and research excellence. The proposed milestones strongly align with the strategic priorities and 'Our Cardano' principles by funding critical operations for the Parameter Committee, CIP Editors, and Hard Fork Working Group. The proposal is expected to generate meaningful on-chain activity through direct network usage, transaction volume, governance participation, and enhanced by WP1 expert event engagements. The team has a proven track record of delivering ecosystem grants and meaningful outcomes, as evidenced by their coordination of the Plomin and Chang hard forks. The budget is appropriately justified given the phased milestone structure with clearly defined acceptance criteria and provisions for independent oversight, including independent third-party audit verification via Appold and an absolute return-to-treasury policy for all unspent capital. However, it is recommended that WP1 track active delivery metrics rather than event attendance, and mandate the publication of post-event reports to turn travel into a strategic intelligence asset, while WP3 must enforce its promised total independent recusal framework. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sgx6wlxf	Withdraw 25,400,000 ada for Intersect: Governance coordination and technical stewardship for the Cardano ecosystem	ABSTAIN	This Intersect proposal credibly contributes to open governance coordination, technical stewardship, and ecosystem outreach as the deliverables successfully support the off-chain coordination model outlined in the Cardano 2030 Strategy. However, the immediate impact of its 2026 technical budget to on-chain network growth remains obscured by substantial operational ambiguities. This is because its technical focus risks introducing unnecessary parallel management layers rather than directly driving clean, high-impact technical utility. Furthermore, while the organization has demonstrated experience managing an evolving decentralized landscape over the past two years, the total requested budget of 25,400,000 ADA is not appropriately justified given a lack of granular, itemized baseline financial accounting and clear 2025 actual expenditure statements to verify true value-for-money. Additionally, extensive work packages within the proposal heavily overlap with core software maintenance, repository stewardship, and infrastructure monitoring solutions already maintained by the ecosystem, while the current committee framework introduces administrative overheads that require swift structural streamlining to prioritize tangible, democratic, and measurable outcomes. Based on this, CF votes Abstain.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8s24l0u4y	Withdraw 3,810,423 ada for Mithril Protocol	YES	The Mithril Protocol proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure, scalability, and research excellence by providing critical light-client verification models, Layer 2 anchoring primitives, and SNARK-based certificate compression frameworks. The proposal is expected to drive long-term protocol maintainability, cross-chain interoperability, and future-proof network resilience, thereby justifying treasury investment. Furthermore, the team has a proven track record of peer-reviewed engineering delivery and technical execution, and the budget is appropriately justified, as the requested funding is consistent with the strategic importance of the core infrastructure tracks. However, the proposal would benefit from a clearer, itemized breakdown of staffing costs and full-time equivalent (FTE) allocations to address headline cost concerns, as well as a more explicit articulation of broader system impacts regarding network decentralization and production wallet integration pathways. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8svfsvefn	Withdraw 1,162,746 ada for MLabs Core Tool Maintenance & Enhancement: Plutarch and Ply	YES	The MLabs Core Tool Maintenance & Enhancement proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure and developer experience by providing essential maintenance and ongoing enhancements for widely used developer tools. While maintenance itself is not expected to generate immediate on-chain activity, safeguarding heavily used builder infrastructure protects the ecosystem from severe disruption and ensures that future transaction volume and adoption remain sustainable. Furthermore, the team has a demonstrated track record of delivering foundational developer tools, and the budget is appropriately justified given that it represents a fairly reasonable and standard funding request for specialized repository oversight. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sw64d667	Withdraw 540,750 ada for Oura by TxPipe: Maintaining Cardano’s Event Pipeline	YES	The Oura by TxPipe proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure, developer decentralization, and ecosystem accessibility by providing essential open-source event data pipeline tooling that directly benefits a wide range of active deployments. The proposal is expected to drive sustained protocol-level engagement and protect ecosystem growth from the adverse risks of critical tool attrition to justify treasury investment. Furthermore, the team has established a reliable track record of building foundational developer solutions, and the budget is appropriately justified given that the funding request is neither excessive nor unrealistic for a dedicated maintenance resource. However, the proposal would benefit from increased clarity regarding its SLAs and explicit expectations for the full-time maintainer. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8ssd0ztd8	Withdraw 540,750 ada for Pallas by TxPipe: Maintaining Cardano's Core Rust Libraries, Year 2	YES	The Pallas by TxPipe proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure and research excellence because the deliverables target core, low-level building blocks that directly support critical downstream network dependencies like Amaru. The proposal is expected to drive sustained protocol-level engagement and safeguard foundational infrastructure that justifies treasury investment. Furthermore, the team has demonstrated the necessary expertise to maintain the solution, and the budget is appropriately justified given the essential utility and ongoing ecosystem reliance on the repository. However, the proposal would benefit from clearer resource guarantees to ensure the allocated developer actively manages and maintains the codebase. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sj72rg72	Withdraw 1,684,050 ada for Tx3 by TxPipe: Open API Layer for Cardano's dApp Protocols	ABSTAIN	The Tx3 by TxPipe proposal has potential to contribute to adoption, utility, and ecosystem growth as the deliverables target a standardized open interface layer, multi-language SDKs, and agent-facing tools designed to make decentralized protocols discoverable and composable. While this proposal has potential to drive future protocol-level engagement and enhance developer experiences, its immediate on-chain impact remains prospective rather than proven. Although the team has demonstrated a credible foundation with active public repositories and strong strategic alignment, the budget is not appropriately justified given an overly broad 12-month scope backed by a thin financial breakdown. Additionally, the proposal lacks crucial technical and governance evidence, including a specific protocol candidate list, detailed FTE allocations, cloud sizing parameters, explicit SLA assumptions, and concrete acceptance criteria. Based on this, CF votes Abstain.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8s5z9qdza	Withdraw 540,750 ada for UTxO RPC by TxPipe: Maintaining Cardano’s Integration Standard, Year 2.	YES	The UTxO RPC by TxPipe proposal credibly contributes to ecosystem growth, infrastructure, and interoperability by providing a standardized integration surface and multi-language SDKs that systematically reduce developer friction. The proposal is expected to drive sustained protocol-level engagement by reinforcing node and client diversity across key projects like Amaru, Dingo, and the Haskell Cardano node that justifies treasury investment. Furthermore, the team has demonstrated a specialized track record as a protocol maintainer with strong public code and runtime evidence, and the budget is appropriately justified given the essential nature of shared open infrastructure. However, the proposal would benefit from increased specificity in its milestone definitions, including clearly defined maintenance SLAs, explicit mapping for version compatibility targets, and proper license file cleanup across all active repositories. Based on this, CF votes Yes.

This document includes the Cardano Foundation’s voting decisions and individual voting rationales for the 11 Treasury Withdrawal governance actions submitted following the Intersect-facilitated budget process.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

Our approach is designed to ensure both transparency and efficiency, applying a consistent evaluation framework (see the “Cardano Foundation Voting Decisions for the 2026 Intersect Budget Process”) to each proposal and presenting our reasoning in a single, comprehensive document.

No material changes have been made to the individual proposals since the budget proposals were approved in Hydra Voting, therefore our votes on these withdrawals reflect our original assessment and vote. Our voting decisions on the 11 treasury withdrawals are made available in the table below.

Fund administration clarity is an important consideration for our voting decisions. Our expectation is that expect Intersect, as administrator, will manage funds diligently, provide public transparency on contracts, and ensure robust oversight, holding recipients accountable for deliverables.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation’s votes on these 11 treasury withdrawal governance actions are the direct execution of a single, comprehensive review process that began during the Hydra Voting phase. Although we present one aggregate rationale for efficiency, each proposal and governance action was individually assessed against a consistent framework anchored in our publicly stated principles.

Voting Record

Governance Action ID	Title	Vote	Rationale
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sqcw2nc5	Withdraw 3,961,538 ada for Bringing Real-World Payments to Cardano with Wirex	YES	The Wirex proposal credibly contributes to adoption and utility because the deliverables provide card-based financial services and open payment rails linked to on-chain balances. The proposal is expected to expand real-world payment utility and leverage Wirex's established scale to create a plausible path toward increased ecosystem usage to justify treasury investment. The budget justification would benefit from establishing explicit Cardano-specific user migration volumes, ADA spending targets, and a delineation of open-source components. However, the team demonstrates a strong operational history and extensive multi-jurisdictional transaction experience. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sztttste	Withdraw 540,750 ada for by TxPipe Dolos: Maintaining Cardano's Lightweight Data Node, Year 2	YES	The Dolos by TxPipe proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure and research excellence because the deliverables target a mature, non-Haskell alternative node implementation that directly decentralizes data access. The proposal is expected to drive sustained protocol-level engagement and support long-term network resilience by safeguarding critical node diversity. Furthermore, the team has a proven track record of continuous infrastructure delivery and verifiable software releases across prior cycles, and the budget is appropriately justified given a clean cost structure for a part-time maintainer that features a transparent return-to-treasury clause for unused contingency reserves. However, the proposal would benefit from less generic milestone definitions that commit to specific protocol-version readiness for upcoming hard forks and more defined deliverables to support its speculative AI-integration scope. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8syhyg4hw	Withdraw 1,310,960 ada for Hardware Wallet Maintenance 2026	NO	The Hardware Wallet Maintenance 2026 proposal has potential to contribute to security, continuity, and ecosystem access as the deliverables target a critical access layer to ensure ongoing hardware wallet compatibility for ADA holders. However, the budget is not appropriately justified and compared to previous funding cycles for similar scopes seems too high. Additionally, the project presents substantial execution and accountability risks, evidenced by incomplete milestones and significant delivery delays in the 2025 cycle, alongside a repository changelog that suggests an undocumented complete rewrite rather than routine maintenance. Without explicit clarifications regarding vendor responsibilities, itemized cost increases, and structured milestone definitions managed via clear, centralized ecosystem demand, the current proposal lacks the necessary transparency for public funding. Based on this, CF votes No.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sxypfkyr	Withdraw 1,193,000 ada for Intersect Technical Steering Committee Support	YES	IntersectTSC credibly contributes to the development of Cardano governance and supports infrastructure and research excellence. The proposed milestones strongly align with the strategic priorities and 'Our Cardano' principles by funding critical operations for the Parameter Committee, CIP Editors, and Hard Fork Working Group. The proposal is expected to generate meaningful on-chain activity through direct network usage, transaction volume, governance participation, and enhanced by WP1 expert event engagements. The team has a proven track record of delivering ecosystem grants and meaningful outcomes, as evidenced by their coordination of the Plomin and Chang hard forks. The budget is appropriately justified given the phased milestone structure with clearly defined acceptance criteria and provisions for independent oversight, including independent third-party audit verification via Appold and an absolute return-to-treasury policy for all unspent capital. However, it is recommended that WP1 track active delivery metrics rather than event attendance, and mandate the publication of post-event reports to turn travel into a strategic intelligence asset, while WP3 must enforce its promised total independent recusal framework. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sgx6wlxf	Withdraw 25,400,000 ada for Intersect: Governance coordination and technical stewardship for the Cardano ecosystem	ABSTAIN	This Intersect proposal credibly contributes to open governance coordination, technical stewardship, and ecosystem outreach as the deliverables successfully support the off-chain coordination model outlined in the Cardano 2030 Strategy. However, the immediate impact of its 2026 technical budget to on-chain network growth remains obscured by substantial operational ambiguities. This is because its technical focus risks introducing unnecessary parallel management layers rather than directly driving clean, high-impact technical utility. Furthermore, while the organization has demonstrated experience managing an evolving decentralized landscape over the past two years, the total requested budget of 25,400,000 ADA is not appropriately justified given a lack of granular, itemized baseline financial accounting and clear 2025 actual expenditure statements to verify true value-for-money. Additionally, extensive work packages within the proposal heavily overlap with core software maintenance, repository stewardship, and infrastructure monitoring solutions already maintained by the ecosystem, while the current committee framework introduces administrative overheads that require swift structural streamlining to prioritize tangible, democratic, and measurable outcomes. Based on this, CF votes Abstain.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8s24l0u4y	Withdraw 3,810,423 ada for Mithril Protocol	YES	The Mithril Protocol proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure, scalability, and research excellence by providing critical light-client verification models, Layer 2 anchoring primitives, and SNARK-based certificate compression frameworks. The proposal is expected to drive long-term protocol maintainability, cross-chain interoperability, and future-proof network resilience, thereby justifying treasury investment. Furthermore, the team has a proven track record of peer-reviewed engineering delivery and technical execution, and the budget is appropriately justified, as the requested funding is consistent with the strategic importance of the core infrastructure tracks. However, the proposal would benefit from a clearer, itemized breakdown of staffing costs and full-time equivalent (FTE) allocations to address headline cost concerns, as well as a more explicit articulation of broader system impacts regarding network decentralization and production wallet integration pathways. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8svfsvefn	Withdraw 1,162,746 ada for MLabs Core Tool Maintenance & Enhancement: Plutarch and Ply	YES	The MLabs Core Tool Maintenance & Enhancement proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure and developer experience by providing essential maintenance and ongoing enhancements for widely used developer tools. While maintenance itself is not expected to generate immediate on-chain activity, safeguarding heavily used builder infrastructure protects the ecosystem from severe disruption and ensures that future transaction volume and adoption remain sustainable. Furthermore, the team has a demonstrated track record of delivering foundational developer tools, and the budget is appropriately justified given that it represents a fairly reasonable and standard funding request for specialized repository oversight. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sw64d667	Withdraw 540,750 ada for Oura by TxPipe: Maintaining Cardano’s Event Pipeline	YES	The Oura by TxPipe proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure, developer decentralization, and ecosystem accessibility by providing essential open-source event data pipeline tooling that directly benefits a wide range of active deployments. The proposal is expected to drive sustained protocol-level engagement and protect ecosystem growth from the adverse risks of critical tool attrition to justify treasury investment. Furthermore, the team has established a reliable track record of building foundational developer solutions, and the budget is appropriately justified given that the funding request is neither excessive nor unrealistic for a dedicated maintenance resource. However, the proposal would benefit from increased clarity regarding its SLAs and explicit expectations for the full-time maintainer. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8ssd0ztd8	Withdraw 540,750 ada for Pallas by TxPipe: Maintaining Cardano's Core Rust Libraries, Year 2	YES	The Pallas by TxPipe proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure and research excellence because the deliverables target core, low-level building blocks that directly support critical downstream network dependencies like Amaru. The proposal is expected to drive sustained protocol-level engagement and safeguard foundational infrastructure that justifies treasury investment. Furthermore, the team has demonstrated the necessary expertise to maintain the solution, and the budget is appropriately justified given the essential utility and ongoing ecosystem reliance on the repository. However, the proposal would benefit from clearer resource guarantees to ensure the allocated developer actively manages and maintains the codebase. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sj72rg72	Withdraw 1,684,050 ada for Tx3 by TxPipe: Open API Layer for Cardano's dApp Protocols	ABSTAIN	The Tx3 by TxPipe proposal has potential to contribute to adoption, utility, and ecosystem growth as the deliverables target a standardized open interface layer, multi-language SDKs, and agent-facing tools designed to make decentralized protocols discoverable and composable. While this proposal has potential to drive future protocol-level engagement and enhance developer experiences, its immediate on-chain impact remains prospective rather than proven. Although the team has demonstrated a credible foundation with active public repositories and strong strategic alignment, the budget is not appropriately justified given an overly broad 12-month scope backed by a thin financial breakdown. Additionally, the proposal lacks crucial technical and governance evidence, including a specific protocol candidate list, detailed FTE allocations, cloud sizing parameters, explicit SLA assumptions, and concrete acceptance criteria. Based on this, CF votes Abstain.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8s5z9qdza	Withdraw 540,750 ada for UTxO RPC by TxPipe: Maintaining Cardano’s Integration Standard, Year 2.	YES	The UTxO RPC by TxPipe proposal credibly contributes to ecosystem growth, infrastructure, and interoperability by providing a standardized integration surface and multi-language SDKs that systematically reduce developer friction. The proposal is expected to drive sustained protocol-level engagement by reinforcing node and client diversity across key projects like Amaru, Dingo, and the Haskell Cardano node that justifies treasury investment. Furthermore, the team has demonstrated a specialized track record as a protocol maintainer with strong public code and runtime evidence, and the budget is appropriately justified given the essential nature of shared open infrastructure. However, the proposal would benefit from increased specificity in its milestone definitions, including clearly defined maintenance SLAs, explicit mapping for version compatibility targets, and proper license file cleanup across all active repositories. Based on this, CF votes Yes.

This document includes the Cardano Foundation’s voting decisions and individual voting rationales for the 11 Treasury Withdrawal governance actions submitted following the Intersect-facilitated budget process.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

Our approach is designed to ensure both transparency and efficiency, applying a consistent evaluation framework (see the “Cardano Foundation Voting Decisions for the 2026 Intersect Budget Process”) to each proposal and presenting our reasoning in a single, comprehensive document.

No material changes have been made to the individual proposals since the budget proposals were approved in Hydra Voting, therefore our votes on these withdrawals reflect our original assessment and vote. Our voting decisions on the 11 treasury withdrawals are made available in the table below.

Fund administration clarity is an important consideration for our voting decisions. Our expectation is that expect Intersect, as administrator, will manage funds diligently, provide public transparency on contracts, and ensure robust oversight, holding recipients accountable for deliverables.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation’s votes on these 11 treasury withdrawal governance actions are the direct execution of a single, comprehensive review process that began during the Hydra Voting phase. Although we present one aggregate rationale for efficiency, each proposal and governance action was individually assessed against a consistent framework anchored in our publicly stated principles.

Voting Record

Governance Action ID	Title	Vote	Rationale
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sqcw2nc5	Withdraw 3,961,538 ada for Bringing Real-World Payments to Cardano with Wirex	YES	The Wirex proposal credibly contributes to adoption and utility because the deliverables provide card-based financial services and open payment rails linked to on-chain balances. The proposal is expected to expand real-world payment utility and leverage Wirex's established scale to create a plausible path toward increased ecosystem usage to justify treasury investment. The budget justification would benefit from establishing explicit Cardano-specific user migration volumes, ADA spending targets, and a delineation of open-source components. However, the team demonstrates a strong operational history and extensive multi-jurisdictional transaction experience. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sztttste	Withdraw 540,750 ada for by TxPipe Dolos: Maintaining Cardano's Lightweight Data Node, Year 2	YES	The Dolos by TxPipe proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure and research excellence because the deliverables target a mature, non-Haskell alternative node implementation that directly decentralizes data access. The proposal is expected to drive sustained protocol-level engagement and support long-term network resilience by safeguarding critical node diversity. Furthermore, the team has a proven track record of continuous infrastructure delivery and verifiable software releases across prior cycles, and the budget is appropriately justified given a clean cost structure for a part-time maintainer that features a transparent return-to-treasury clause for unused contingency reserves. However, the proposal would benefit from less generic milestone definitions that commit to specific protocol-version readiness for upcoming hard forks and more defined deliverables to support its speculative AI-integration scope. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8syhyg4hw	Withdraw 1,310,960 ada for Hardware Wallet Maintenance 2026	NO	The Hardware Wallet Maintenance 2026 proposal has potential to contribute to security, continuity, and ecosystem access as the deliverables target a critical access layer to ensure ongoing hardware wallet compatibility for ADA holders. However, the budget is not appropriately justified and compared to previous funding cycles for similar scopes seems too high. Additionally, the project presents substantial execution and accountability risks, evidenced by incomplete milestones and significant delivery delays in the 2025 cycle, alongside a repository changelog that suggests an undocumented complete rewrite rather than routine maintenance. Without explicit clarifications regarding vendor responsibilities, itemized cost increases, and structured milestone definitions managed via clear, centralized ecosystem demand, the current proposal lacks the necessary transparency for public funding. Based on this, CF votes No.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sxypfkyr	Withdraw 1,193,000 ada for Intersect Technical Steering Committee Support	YES	IntersectTSC credibly contributes to the development of Cardano governance and supports infrastructure and research excellence. The proposed milestones strongly align with the strategic priorities and 'Our Cardano' principles by funding critical operations for the Parameter Committee, CIP Editors, and Hard Fork Working Group. The proposal is expected to generate meaningful on-chain activity through direct network usage, transaction volume, governance participation, and enhanced by WP1 expert event engagements. The team has a proven track record of delivering ecosystem grants and meaningful outcomes, as evidenced by their coordination of the Plomin and Chang hard forks. The budget is appropriately justified given the phased milestone structure with clearly defined acceptance criteria and provisions for independent oversight, including independent third-party audit verification via Appold and an absolute return-to-treasury policy for all unspent capital. However, it is recommended that WP1 track active delivery metrics rather than event attendance, and mandate the publication of post-event reports to turn travel into a strategic intelligence asset, while WP3 must enforce its promised total independent recusal framework. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sgx6wlxf	Withdraw 25,400,000 ada for Intersect: Governance coordination and technical stewardship for the Cardano ecosystem	ABSTAIN	This Intersect proposal credibly contributes to open governance coordination, technical stewardship, and ecosystem outreach as the deliverables successfully support the off-chain coordination model outlined in the Cardano 2030 Strategy. However, the immediate impact of its 2026 technical budget to on-chain network growth remains obscured by substantial operational ambiguities. This is because its technical focus risks introducing unnecessary parallel management layers rather than directly driving clean, high-impact technical utility. Furthermore, while the organization has demonstrated experience managing an evolving decentralized landscape over the past two years, the total requested budget of 25,400,000 ADA is not appropriately justified given a lack of granular, itemized baseline financial accounting and clear 2025 actual expenditure statements to verify true value-for-money. Additionally, extensive work packages within the proposal heavily overlap with core software maintenance, repository stewardship, and infrastructure monitoring solutions already maintained by the ecosystem, while the current committee framework introduces administrative overheads that require swift structural streamlining to prioritize tangible, democratic, and measurable outcomes. Based on this, CF votes Abstain.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8s24l0u4y	Withdraw 3,810,423 ada for Mithril Protocol	YES	The Mithril Protocol proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure, scalability, and research excellence by providing critical light-client verification models, Layer 2 anchoring primitives, and SNARK-based certificate compression frameworks. The proposal is expected to drive long-term protocol maintainability, cross-chain interoperability, and future-proof network resilience, thereby justifying treasury investment. Furthermore, the team has a proven track record of peer-reviewed engineering delivery and technical execution, and the budget is appropriately justified, as the requested funding is consistent with the strategic importance of the core infrastructure tracks. However, the proposal would benefit from a clearer, itemized breakdown of staffing costs and full-time equivalent (FTE) allocations to address headline cost concerns, as well as a more explicit articulation of broader system impacts regarding network decentralization and production wallet integration pathways. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8svfsvefn	Withdraw 1,162,746 ada for MLabs Core Tool Maintenance & Enhancement: Plutarch and Ply	YES	The MLabs Core Tool Maintenance & Enhancement proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure and developer experience by providing essential maintenance and ongoing enhancements for widely used developer tools. While maintenance itself is not expected to generate immediate on-chain activity, safeguarding heavily used builder infrastructure protects the ecosystem from severe disruption and ensures that future transaction volume and adoption remain sustainable. Furthermore, the team has a demonstrated track record of delivering foundational developer tools, and the budget is appropriately justified given that it represents a fairly reasonable and standard funding request for specialized repository oversight. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sw64d667	Withdraw 540,750 ada for Oura by TxPipe: Maintaining Cardano’s Event Pipeline	YES	The Oura by TxPipe proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure, developer decentralization, and ecosystem accessibility by providing essential open-source event data pipeline tooling that directly benefits a wide range of active deployments. The proposal is expected to drive sustained protocol-level engagement and protect ecosystem growth from the adverse risks of critical tool attrition to justify treasury investment. Furthermore, the team has established a reliable track record of building foundational developer solutions, and the budget is appropriately justified given that the funding request is neither excessive nor unrealistic for a dedicated maintenance resource. However, the proposal would benefit from increased clarity regarding its SLAs and explicit expectations for the full-time maintainer. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8ssd0ztd8	Withdraw 540,750 ada for Pallas by TxPipe: Maintaining Cardano's Core Rust Libraries, Year 2	YES	The Pallas by TxPipe proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure and research excellence because the deliverables target core, low-level building blocks that directly support critical downstream network dependencies like Amaru. The proposal is expected to drive sustained protocol-level engagement and safeguard foundational infrastructure that justifies treasury investment. Furthermore, the team has demonstrated the necessary expertise to maintain the solution, and the budget is appropriately justified given the essential utility and ongoing ecosystem reliance on the repository. However, the proposal would benefit from clearer resource guarantees to ensure the allocated developer actively manages and maintains the codebase. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sj72rg72	Withdraw 1,684,050 ada for Tx3 by TxPipe: Open API Layer for Cardano's dApp Protocols	ABSTAIN	The Tx3 by TxPipe proposal has potential to contribute to adoption, utility, and ecosystem growth as the deliverables target a standardized open interface layer, multi-language SDKs, and agent-facing tools designed to make decentralized protocols discoverable and composable. While this proposal has potential to drive future protocol-level engagement and enhance developer experiences, its immediate on-chain impact remains prospective rather than proven. Although the team has demonstrated a credible foundation with active public repositories and strong strategic alignment, the budget is not appropriately justified given an overly broad 12-month scope backed by a thin financial breakdown. Additionally, the proposal lacks crucial technical and governance evidence, including a specific protocol candidate list, detailed FTE allocations, cloud sizing parameters, explicit SLA assumptions, and concrete acceptance criteria. Based on this, CF votes Abstain.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8s5z9qdza	Withdraw 540,750 ada for UTxO RPC by TxPipe: Maintaining Cardano’s Integration Standard, Year 2.	YES	The UTxO RPC by TxPipe proposal credibly contributes to ecosystem growth, infrastructure, and interoperability by providing a standardized integration surface and multi-language SDKs that systematically reduce developer friction. The proposal is expected to drive sustained protocol-level engagement by reinforcing node and client diversity across key projects like Amaru, Dingo, and the Haskell Cardano node that justifies treasury investment. Furthermore, the team has demonstrated a specialized track record as a protocol maintainer with strong public code and runtime evidence, and the budget is appropriately justified given the essential nature of shared open infrastructure. However, the proposal would benefit from increased specificity in its milestone definitions, including clearly defined maintenance SLAs, explicit mapping for version compatibility targets, and proper license file cleanup across all active repositories. Based on this, CF votes Yes.

This document includes the Cardano Foundation’s voting decisions and individual voting rationales for the 11 Treasury Withdrawal governance actions submitted following the Intersect-facilitated budget process.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

Our approach is designed to ensure both transparency and efficiency, applying a consistent evaluation framework (see the “Cardano Foundation Voting Decisions for the 2026 Intersect Budget Process”) to each proposal and presenting our reasoning in a single, comprehensive document.

No material changes have been made to the individual proposals since the budget proposals were approved in Hydra Voting, therefore our votes on these withdrawals reflect our original assessment and vote. Our voting decisions on the 11 treasury withdrawals are made available in the table below.

Fund administration clarity is an important consideration for our voting decisions. Our expectation is that expect Intersect, as administrator, will manage funds diligently, provide public transparency on contracts, and ensure robust oversight, holding recipients accountable for deliverables.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation’s votes on these 11 treasury withdrawal governance actions are the direct execution of a single, comprehensive review process that began during the Hydra Voting phase. Although we present one aggregate rationale for efficiency, each proposal and governance action was individually assessed against a consistent framework anchored in our publicly stated principles.

Voting Record

Governance Action ID	Title	Vote	Rationale
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sqcw2nc5	Withdraw 3,961,538 ada for Bringing Real-World Payments to Cardano with Wirex	YES	The Wirex proposal credibly contributes to adoption and utility because the deliverables provide card-based financial services and open payment rails linked to on-chain balances. The proposal is expected to expand real-world payment utility and leverage Wirex's established scale to create a plausible path toward increased ecosystem usage to justify treasury investment. The budget justification would benefit from establishing explicit Cardano-specific user migration volumes, ADA spending targets, and a delineation of open-source components. However, the team demonstrates a strong operational history and extensive multi-jurisdictional transaction experience. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sztttste	Withdraw 540,750 ada for by TxPipe Dolos: Maintaining Cardano's Lightweight Data Node, Year 2	YES	The Dolos by TxPipe proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure and research excellence because the deliverables target a mature, non-Haskell alternative node implementation that directly decentralizes data access. The proposal is expected to drive sustained protocol-level engagement and support long-term network resilience by safeguarding critical node diversity. Furthermore, the team has a proven track record of continuous infrastructure delivery and verifiable software releases across prior cycles, and the budget is appropriately justified given a clean cost structure for a part-time maintainer that features a transparent return-to-treasury clause for unused contingency reserves. However, the proposal would benefit from less generic milestone definitions that commit to specific protocol-version readiness for upcoming hard forks and more defined deliverables to support its speculative AI-integration scope. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8syhyg4hw	Withdraw 1,310,960 ada for Hardware Wallet Maintenance 2026	NO	The Hardware Wallet Maintenance 2026 proposal has potential to contribute to security, continuity, and ecosystem access as the deliverables target a critical access layer to ensure ongoing hardware wallet compatibility for ADA holders. However, the budget is not appropriately justified and compared to previous funding cycles for similar scopes seems too high. Additionally, the project presents substantial execution and accountability risks, evidenced by incomplete milestones and significant delivery delays in the 2025 cycle, alongside a repository changelog that suggests an undocumented complete rewrite rather than routine maintenance. Without explicit clarifications regarding vendor responsibilities, itemized cost increases, and structured milestone definitions managed via clear, centralized ecosystem demand, the current proposal lacks the necessary transparency for public funding. Based on this, CF votes No.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sxypfkyr	Withdraw 1,193,000 ada for Intersect Technical Steering Committee Support	YES	IntersectTSC credibly contributes to the development of Cardano governance and supports infrastructure and research excellence. The proposed milestones strongly align with the strategic priorities and 'Our Cardano' principles by funding critical operations for the Parameter Committee, CIP Editors, and Hard Fork Working Group. The proposal is expected to generate meaningful on-chain activity through direct network usage, transaction volume, governance participation, and enhanced by WP1 expert event engagements. The team has a proven track record of delivering ecosystem grants and meaningful outcomes, as evidenced by their coordination of the Plomin and Chang hard forks. The budget is appropriately justified given the phased milestone structure with clearly defined acceptance criteria and provisions for independent oversight, including independent third-party audit verification via Appold and an absolute return-to-treasury policy for all unspent capital. However, it is recommended that WP1 track active delivery metrics rather than event attendance, and mandate the publication of post-event reports to turn travel into a strategic intelligence asset, while WP3 must enforce its promised total independent recusal framework. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sgx6wlxf	Withdraw 25,400,000 ada for Intersect: Governance coordination and technical stewardship for the Cardano ecosystem	ABSTAIN	This Intersect proposal credibly contributes to open governance coordination, technical stewardship, and ecosystem outreach as the deliverables successfully support the off-chain coordination model outlined in the Cardano 2030 Strategy. However, the immediate impact of its 2026 technical budget to on-chain network growth remains obscured by substantial operational ambiguities. This is because its technical focus risks introducing unnecessary parallel management layers rather than directly driving clean, high-impact technical utility. Furthermore, while the organization has demonstrated experience managing an evolving decentralized landscape over the past two years, the total requested budget of 25,400,000 ADA is not appropriately justified given a lack of granular, itemized baseline financial accounting and clear 2025 actual expenditure statements to verify true value-for-money. Additionally, extensive work packages within the proposal heavily overlap with core software maintenance, repository stewardship, and infrastructure monitoring solutions already maintained by the ecosystem, while the current committee framework introduces administrative overheads that require swift structural streamlining to prioritize tangible, democratic, and measurable outcomes. Based on this, CF votes Abstain.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8s24l0u4y	Withdraw 3,810,423 ada for Mithril Protocol	YES	The Mithril Protocol proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure, scalability, and research excellence by providing critical light-client verification models, Layer 2 anchoring primitives, and SNARK-based certificate compression frameworks. The proposal is expected to drive long-term protocol maintainability, cross-chain interoperability, and future-proof network resilience, thereby justifying treasury investment. Furthermore, the team has a proven track record of peer-reviewed engineering delivery and technical execution, and the budget is appropriately justified, as the requested funding is consistent with the strategic importance of the core infrastructure tracks. However, the proposal would benefit from a clearer, itemized breakdown of staffing costs and full-time equivalent (FTE) allocations to address headline cost concerns, as well as a more explicit articulation of broader system impacts regarding network decentralization and production wallet integration pathways. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8svfsvefn	Withdraw 1,162,746 ada for MLabs Core Tool Maintenance & Enhancement: Plutarch and Ply	YES	The MLabs Core Tool Maintenance & Enhancement proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure and developer experience by providing essential maintenance and ongoing enhancements for widely used developer tools. While maintenance itself is not expected to generate immediate on-chain activity, safeguarding heavily used builder infrastructure protects the ecosystem from severe disruption and ensures that future transaction volume and adoption remain sustainable. Furthermore, the team has a demonstrated track record of delivering foundational developer tools, and the budget is appropriately justified given that it represents a fairly reasonable and standard funding request for specialized repository oversight. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sw64d667	Withdraw 540,750 ada for Oura by TxPipe: Maintaining Cardano’s Event Pipeline	YES	The Oura by TxPipe proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure, developer decentralization, and ecosystem accessibility by providing essential open-source event data pipeline tooling that directly benefits a wide range of active deployments. The proposal is expected to drive sustained protocol-level engagement and protect ecosystem growth from the adverse risks of critical tool attrition to justify treasury investment. Furthermore, the team has established a reliable track record of building foundational developer solutions, and the budget is appropriately justified given that the funding request is neither excessive nor unrealistic for a dedicated maintenance resource. However, the proposal would benefit from increased clarity regarding its SLAs and explicit expectations for the full-time maintainer. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8ssd0ztd8	Withdraw 540,750 ada for Pallas by TxPipe: Maintaining Cardano's Core Rust Libraries, Year 2	YES	The Pallas by TxPipe proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure and research excellence because the deliverables target core, low-level building blocks that directly support critical downstream network dependencies like Amaru. The proposal is expected to drive sustained protocol-level engagement and safeguard foundational infrastructure that justifies treasury investment. Furthermore, the team has demonstrated the necessary expertise to maintain the solution, and the budget is appropriately justified given the essential utility and ongoing ecosystem reliance on the repository. However, the proposal would benefit from clearer resource guarantees to ensure the allocated developer actively manages and maintains the codebase. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sj72rg72	Withdraw 1,684,050 ada for Tx3 by TxPipe: Open API Layer for Cardano's dApp Protocols	ABSTAIN	The Tx3 by TxPipe proposal has potential to contribute to adoption, utility, and ecosystem growth as the deliverables target a standardized open interface layer, multi-language SDKs, and agent-facing tools designed to make decentralized protocols discoverable and composable. While this proposal has potential to drive future protocol-level engagement and enhance developer experiences, its immediate on-chain impact remains prospective rather than proven. Although the team has demonstrated a credible foundation with active public repositories and strong strategic alignment, the budget is not appropriately justified given an overly broad 12-month scope backed by a thin financial breakdown. Additionally, the proposal lacks crucial technical and governance evidence, including a specific protocol candidate list, detailed FTE allocations, cloud sizing parameters, explicit SLA assumptions, and concrete acceptance criteria. Based on this, CF votes Abstain.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8s5z9qdza	Withdraw 540,750 ada for UTxO RPC by TxPipe: Maintaining Cardano’s Integration Standard, Year 2.	YES	The UTxO RPC by TxPipe proposal credibly contributes to ecosystem growth, infrastructure, and interoperability by providing a standardized integration surface and multi-language SDKs that systematically reduce developer friction. The proposal is expected to drive sustained protocol-level engagement by reinforcing node and client diversity across key projects like Amaru, Dingo, and the Haskell Cardano node that justifies treasury investment. Furthermore, the team has demonstrated a specialized track record as a protocol maintainer with strong public code and runtime evidence, and the budget is appropriately justified given the essential nature of shared open infrastructure. However, the proposal would benefit from increased specificity in its milestone definitions, including clearly defined maintenance SLAs, explicit mapping for version compatibility targets, and proper license file cleanup across all active repositories. Based on this, CF votes Yes.

This document includes the Cardano Foundation’s voting decisions and individual voting rationales for the 11 Treasury Withdrawal governance actions submitted following the Intersect-facilitated budget process.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

Our approach is designed to ensure both transparency and efficiency, applying a consistent evaluation framework (see the “Cardano Foundation Voting Decisions for the 2026 Intersect Budget Process”) to each proposal and presenting our reasoning in a single, comprehensive document.

No material changes have been made to the individual proposals since the budget proposals were approved in Hydra Voting, therefore our votes on these withdrawals reflect our original assessment and vote. Our voting decisions on the 11 treasury withdrawals are made available in the table below.

Fund administration clarity is an important consideration for our voting decisions. Our expectation is that expect Intersect, as administrator, will manage funds diligently, provide public transparency on contracts, and ensure robust oversight, holding recipients accountable for deliverables.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation’s votes on these 11 treasury withdrawal governance actions are the direct execution of a single, comprehensive review process that began during the Hydra Voting phase. Although we present one aggregate rationale for efficiency, each proposal and governance action was individually assessed against a consistent framework anchored in our publicly stated principles.

Voting Record

Governance Action ID	Title	Vote	Rationale
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sqcw2nc5	Withdraw 3,961,538 ada for Bringing Real-World Payments to Cardano with Wirex	YES	The Wirex proposal credibly contributes to adoption and utility because the deliverables provide card-based financial services and open payment rails linked to on-chain balances. The proposal is expected to expand real-world payment utility and leverage Wirex's established scale to create a plausible path toward increased ecosystem usage to justify treasury investment. The budget justification would benefit from establishing explicit Cardano-specific user migration volumes, ADA spending targets, and a delineation of open-source components. However, the team demonstrates a strong operational history and extensive multi-jurisdictional transaction experience. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sztttste	Withdraw 540,750 ada for by TxPipe Dolos: Maintaining Cardano's Lightweight Data Node, Year 2	YES	The Dolos by TxPipe proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure and research excellence because the deliverables target a mature, non-Haskell alternative node implementation that directly decentralizes data access. The proposal is expected to drive sustained protocol-level engagement and support long-term network resilience by safeguarding critical node diversity. Furthermore, the team has a proven track record of continuous infrastructure delivery and verifiable software releases across prior cycles, and the budget is appropriately justified given a clean cost structure for a part-time maintainer that features a transparent return-to-treasury clause for unused contingency reserves. However, the proposal would benefit from less generic milestone definitions that commit to specific protocol-version readiness for upcoming hard forks and more defined deliverables to support its speculative AI-integration scope. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8syhyg4hw	Withdraw 1,310,960 ada for Hardware Wallet Maintenance 2026	NO	The Hardware Wallet Maintenance 2026 proposal has potential to contribute to security, continuity, and ecosystem access as the deliverables target a critical access layer to ensure ongoing hardware wallet compatibility for ADA holders. However, the budget is not appropriately justified and compared to previous funding cycles for similar scopes seems too high. Additionally, the project presents substantial execution and accountability risks, evidenced by incomplete milestones and significant delivery delays in the 2025 cycle, alongside a repository changelog that suggests an undocumented complete rewrite rather than routine maintenance. Without explicit clarifications regarding vendor responsibilities, itemized cost increases, and structured milestone definitions managed via clear, centralized ecosystem demand, the current proposal lacks the necessary transparency for public funding. Based on this, CF votes No.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sxypfkyr	Withdraw 1,193,000 ada for Intersect Technical Steering Committee Support	YES	IntersectTSC credibly contributes to the development of Cardano governance and supports infrastructure and research excellence. The proposed milestones strongly align with the strategic priorities and 'Our Cardano' principles by funding critical operations for the Parameter Committee, CIP Editors, and Hard Fork Working Group. The proposal is expected to generate meaningful on-chain activity through direct network usage, transaction volume, governance participation, and enhanced by WP1 expert event engagements. The team has a proven track record of delivering ecosystem grants and meaningful outcomes, as evidenced by their coordination of the Plomin and Chang hard forks. The budget is appropriately justified given the phased milestone structure with clearly defined acceptance criteria and provisions for independent oversight, including independent third-party audit verification via Appold and an absolute return-to-treasury policy for all unspent capital. However, it is recommended that WP1 track active delivery metrics rather than event attendance, and mandate the publication of post-event reports to turn travel into a strategic intelligence asset, while WP3 must enforce its promised total independent recusal framework. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sgx6wlxf	Withdraw 25,400,000 ada for Intersect: Governance coordination and technical stewardship for the Cardano ecosystem	ABSTAIN	This Intersect proposal credibly contributes to open governance coordination, technical stewardship, and ecosystem outreach as the deliverables successfully support the off-chain coordination model outlined in the Cardano 2030 Strategy. However, the immediate impact of its 2026 technical budget to on-chain network growth remains obscured by substantial operational ambiguities. This is because its technical focus risks introducing unnecessary parallel management layers rather than directly driving clean, high-impact technical utility. Furthermore, while the organization has demonstrated experience managing an evolving decentralized landscape over the past two years, the total requested budget of 25,400,000 ADA is not appropriately justified given a lack of granular, itemized baseline financial accounting and clear 2025 actual expenditure statements to verify true value-for-money. Additionally, extensive work packages within the proposal heavily overlap with core software maintenance, repository stewardship, and infrastructure monitoring solutions already maintained by the ecosystem, while the current committee framework introduces administrative overheads that require swift structural streamlining to prioritize tangible, democratic, and measurable outcomes. Based on this, CF votes Abstain.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8s24l0u4y	Withdraw 3,810,423 ada for Mithril Protocol	YES	The Mithril Protocol proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure, scalability, and research excellence by providing critical light-client verification models, Layer 2 anchoring primitives, and SNARK-based certificate compression frameworks. The proposal is expected to drive long-term protocol maintainability, cross-chain interoperability, and future-proof network resilience, thereby justifying treasury investment. Furthermore, the team has a proven track record of peer-reviewed engineering delivery and technical execution, and the budget is appropriately justified, as the requested funding is consistent with the strategic importance of the core infrastructure tracks. However, the proposal would benefit from a clearer, itemized breakdown of staffing costs and full-time equivalent (FTE) allocations to address headline cost concerns, as well as a more explicit articulation of broader system impacts regarding network decentralization and production wallet integration pathways. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8svfsvefn	Withdraw 1,162,746 ada for MLabs Core Tool Maintenance & Enhancement: Plutarch and Ply	YES	The MLabs Core Tool Maintenance & Enhancement proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure and developer experience by providing essential maintenance and ongoing enhancements for widely used developer tools. While maintenance itself is not expected to generate immediate on-chain activity, safeguarding heavily used builder infrastructure protects the ecosystem from severe disruption and ensures that future transaction volume and adoption remain sustainable. Furthermore, the team has a demonstrated track record of delivering foundational developer tools, and the budget is appropriately justified given that it represents a fairly reasonable and standard funding request for specialized repository oversight. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sw64d667	Withdraw 540,750 ada for Oura by TxPipe: Maintaining Cardano’s Event Pipeline	YES	The Oura by TxPipe proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure, developer decentralization, and ecosystem accessibility by providing essential open-source event data pipeline tooling that directly benefits a wide range of active deployments. The proposal is expected to drive sustained protocol-level engagement and protect ecosystem growth from the adverse risks of critical tool attrition to justify treasury investment. Furthermore, the team has established a reliable track record of building foundational developer solutions, and the budget is appropriately justified given that the funding request is neither excessive nor unrealistic for a dedicated maintenance resource. However, the proposal would benefit from increased clarity regarding its SLAs and explicit expectations for the full-time maintainer. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8ssd0ztd8	Withdraw 540,750 ada for Pallas by TxPipe: Maintaining Cardano's Core Rust Libraries, Year 2	YES	The Pallas by TxPipe proposal credibly contributes to infrastructure and research excellence because the deliverables target core, low-level building blocks that directly support critical downstream network dependencies like Amaru. The proposal is expected to drive sustained protocol-level engagement and safeguard foundational infrastructure that justifies treasury investment. Furthermore, the team has demonstrated the necessary expertise to maintain the solution, and the budget is appropriately justified given the essential utility and ongoing ecosystem reliance on the repository. However, the proposal would benefit from clearer resource guarantees to ensure the allocated developer actively manages and maintains the codebase. Based on this, CF votes Yes.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8sj72rg72	Withdraw 1,684,050 ada for Tx3 by TxPipe: Open API Layer for Cardano's dApp Protocols	ABSTAIN	The Tx3 by TxPipe proposal has potential to contribute to adoption, utility, and ecosystem growth as the deliverables target a standardized open interface layer, multi-language SDKs, and agent-facing tools designed to make decentralized protocols discoverable and composable. While this proposal has potential to drive future protocol-level engagement and enhance developer experiences, its immediate on-chain impact remains prospective rather than proven. Although the team has demonstrated a credible foundation with active public repositories and strong strategic alignment, the budget is not appropriately justified given an overly broad 12-month scope backed by a thin financial breakdown. Additionally, the proposal lacks crucial technical and governance evidence, including a specific protocol candidate list, detailed FTE allocations, cloud sizing parameters, explicit SLA assumptions, and concrete acceptance criteria. Based on this, CF votes Abstain.
gov_action1k02990lhw6wh74t7c6ufw3mqaek9ujtvyan99dj5qv5kvcs7pn8s5z9qdza	Withdraw 540,750 ada for UTxO RPC by TxPipe: Maintaining Cardano’s Integration Standard, Year 2.	YES	The UTxO RPC by TxPipe proposal credibly contributes to ecosystem growth, infrastructure, and interoperability by providing a standardized integration surface and multi-language SDKs that systematically reduce developer friction. The proposal is expected to drive sustained protocol-level engagement by reinforcing node and client diversity across key projects like Amaru, Dingo, and the Haskell Cardano node that justifies treasury investment. Furthermore, the team has demonstrated a specialized track record as a protocol maintainer with strong public code and runtime evidence, and the budget is appropriately justified given the essential nature of shared open infrastructure. However, the proposal would benefit from increased specificity in its milestone definitions, including clearly defined maintenance SLAs, explicit mapping for version compatibility targets, and proper license file cleanup across all active repositories. Based on this, CF votes Yes.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES and recognizes the strategic value of Peras. The proposer addressed much of our previous feedback by halving the timeline, unbundling the scope, and detailing the budget. While concerns relating to prior funding remain, we believe the risk is mitigated.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

The Cardano Foundation previously voted NO on Tweag’s 2026-2028 multi-year request due to concerns around improper bundling, a two-year timeline, and insufficient financial transparency. We commend the Tweag team for engaging with community feedback and returning with an improved resubmission.

Our decision to support this revised proposal is driven by the following factors:

• Constructive Rescoping and Unbundling: The proposal resolves our primary structural concerns by halving the funding timeline to a 12-month period and reducing the requested budget. By unbundling the portfolio to focus exclusively on Peras, the submission removes tooling and ongoing maintenance workstreams, allowing this critical core infrastructure to be evaluated on its standalone strategic merit.
• Financial Transparency and Granularity: The requested budget is now segmented at the work-package and milestone level. This provides visibility into the financial architecture that was absent in the previous submission, enabling a more objective assessment of the allocation.
• Strategic Value of Peras: We recognize faster, predictable finality as essential public-good infrastructure for Cardano's ongoing adoption. Peras carries significant institutional implications and serves as foundational architecture for Layer 2 scaling, decentralized applications, and enhanced network throughput. We view the delivery of Peras to mainnet as a strategic priority that justifies the requested treasury support.

While our decision is to support this governance action, material concerns remain regarding the administration of prior funding and the execution of the current scope. We expect the proposer to address the following unresolved gaps during the execution period:

• Prior-Funding Closeout: There is still no independently auditable closeout of the 11,070,322.68 ada distributed in 2025, nor a clean separation of which costs in this current request complete prior obligations versus new work. We expect a published, auditable 2025 closeout and a clear accounting of how prior funding was managed.
• FX Risk Management: The budget assumes an exchange rate of $0.25 USD/ADA. While we accept that this appropriately shifts FX downside risk onto the proposer, it makes a future funding shortfall foreseeable.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. Peras development holds strategic value, and Tweag has made substantial improvements to the proposal’s scope, length, and granularity. However, we will evaluate the team's follow-through on our unresolved concerns in any future funding assessments. We expect these accountability expectations and deliverables to be resolved prior to any subsequent treasury requests.

---

NOTE on 'Internal Voting':
The fields constitutional and unconstitutional below reflect the CF governance teams' individual opinions whether they are for or against the proposal. Reason for this inconsistency is, that CIP-136 is at the moment only applicable to CC rationales, but we want to record the internal opinions of our DRep assessment transparently as well.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. We recognize the value of Cardano Dev Gov Day and a Cardano title sponsorship at Rare Evo.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

The Cardano Foundation recognizes Rare Network’s experience and multi-year record of executing events. Rare Evo 2025 reported 2,500 attendees and 40+ Cardano projects, and the inaugural Cardano Dev Gov Day drew roughly 500 participants, providing publicly accessible governance and developer onboarding. Our YES vote reflects the following:

• A Public-Good Core We Value: Dev Gov Day's free governance and developer programming, livestream, complimentary access, and contributor travel support align directly with the Accessibility, Education, and Governance principles set out in "Our Cardano." A dedicated Cardano-focused day is a venue we can use to amplify ecosystem coordination and the latest developments on Cardano, and to host governance-improvement workshops.
• Strategic Visibility at a Reasonable Price: A title sponsorship of an established, multi-chain conference with strong Cardano roots positions the ecosystem prominently during a market contraction. Building on existing venue relationships, production capability, and sponsor networks reduces execution risk relative to a new initiative, and 2,750,000 ada for two events of this value to the community is, in our view, a defensible cost.
• Concerns We Hold But Do Not Block On: Our YES is not an endorsement of every line item. The budget is pegged at a $0.24 ada valuation that may not reflect market conditions at execution; a meaningful share of the request covers overhead, a kickoff party, withheld taxes, and a deposit for an as-yet-unapproved 2027 event rather than 2026 Cardano programming; and the complimentary booth benefit may overlap with Catalyst-funded provisions. We would have preferred these tightened before submission.
• Why We Vote YES Regardless: With the event scheduled for July 28–31, 2026, there is no longer a realistic window to revise and resubmit. We judge that the public-good value of Dev Gov Day and a Cardano title sponsorship, with the marketing exposure it brings, outweighs these shortcomings.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. The Dev Gov Day public good is real, the proposal is feasible, and the strategic value of a Cardano title sponsorship justifies our support.

---

NOTE on 'Internal Voting':
The fields constitutional and unconstitutional below reflect the CF governance teams' individual opinions whether they are for or against the proposal. Reason for this inconsistency is, that CIP-136 is at the moment only applicable to CC rationales, but we want to record the internal opinions of our DRep assessment transparently as well.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES on this governance action. We support maintaining CCI V1 integrations and adding an institutional custodial native integration.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

We recognise the importance of the integrations established under the first Cardano Critical Integrations budget and commend the work undertaken to bring several of them to launch or implementation. The Cardano Foundation votes YES because we believe continued maintenance of Circle USDCx, LayerZero, Pyth, and Dune, together with the proposed institutional custodial native integration, supports infrastructure durability and institutional readiness for the Cardano ecosystem.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. We support lowering the `committeeMinSize` parameter from 7 to 5 as a necessary measure to reduce the risk of governance inoperability.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

We recognize the work of Intersect’s Civics Committee, Technical Steering Committee, and Parameter Committee in advancing a narrowly scoped parameter change to address an operational risk in Cardano governance.

The Cardano Foundation’s decision to vote YES is based on the following factors:

• Operational Resilience: The current Constitutional Committee has 7 members, matching the current `committeeMinSize`. This creates a fragile configuration: if one member retires, reducing the on-chain committee size below the minimum, governance actions requiring Constitutional Committee approval become ineligible for ratification. This includes Parameter Changes, Constitution Updates, Treasury Withdrawals, and Hard Forks. We view this as an avoidable risk to the continuity of Cardano governance.
• Reduction of Individual Blocking Risk: With the minimum set at the same level as the current committee size, any single committee member can, in practice, create a condition where the Constitutional Committee is no longer able to support actions that require its approval. We believe that lowering the minimum to 5 reduces the risk of indirect blocking while preserving the Constitutional Committee's role as a constitutional safeguard.
• Minimum, Not Target Size: This governance action changes the minimum required committee size. It does not directly reduce the current number of Constitutional Committee members, nor does it set 5 as the desired long-term committee size. We support the proposal and encourage the ecosystem to continue to maintain a Constitutional Committee composition above the minimum size, so that there is sufficient operational buffer.

We acknowledge that reducing the minimum committee size changes the dynamics if the committee were actually to fall to 5 members. At that size, and assuming the current 2/3 Constitutional Committee approval threshold, 4 constitutional votes would be required, while 2 non-votes could prevent the threshold from being met. This is a real consideration. However, in our view, the greater and more immediate risk is the current absence of any buffer between the active committee size and the minimum required for governance to operate fully.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. We view this as a measured, reversible change in parameters that improves governance resilience without altering the current Constitutional Committee composition. We encourage continued attention to maintaining a robust, active, and sufficiently broad committee while ensuring that Cardano’s governance system can function through normal transitions.

---

> **_NOTE on 'Internal Voting':_**

> The fields _constitutional_ and _unconstitutional_ below reflect the CF governance teams' individual opinions whether they are _for_ or _against_ the proposal. Reason for this inconsistency is, that CIP-136 is at the moment only applicable to CC rationales, but we want to record the internal opinions of our DRep assessment transparently as well.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. We recognize Eternl as important ecosystem infrastructure and view its repayment-linked structure as a credible bridge towards self-sustainability.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

Eternl is one of the principal non-custodial gateways for payments, staking, DApp interaction, and governance, currently offering one of the most comprehensive in-wallet voting and DRep tooling experiences.

Our decision to support this proposal is driven by the following factors:

• Ecosystem Utility: Eternl supports web, browser extension, Android, and iOS users, and the proposal describes ongoing maintenance across frontend, backend, support, and operations. We view this as relevant infrastructure for Cardano users, developers, and dApp interactions. The proposal also includes continued work on governance tooling, including DRep dashboards, proposal browsing, and in-wallet voting functionality, which aligns with our interest in accessible and usable governance.
• Transition Toward Sustainability: The proposal does not present treasury funding as a permanent operating model. It describes a 12-month funding period from August 2026 to July 2027 and a planned Pro subscription model for personal and company users to generate sufficient income to reach self-sustainability. The stated target is approximately 5,500 paying users, or about 4.2% of the reported install base, to cover the annual operating cost of approximately $420,000. We view this as a meaningful attempt to transition away from recurring ecosystem funding, while recognizing that execution risk remains.
• Repayment-Oriented Structure: The on-chain withdrawal requests 1,680,000 ada, which the proposer frames as approximately $420,000 at $0.25 per ada. The proposal states that the full amount will be converted into stablecoins and placed in a public company wallet, and that surplus funds and future Pro plan income will be assessed every December and June for treasury repayment and later donation. While this is not the same as a milestone-based disbursement or an externally administered repayment mechanism, it is a more constructive funding structure than a simple grant.
• Budget Scope and Continuity: The proposal funds 6.0 FTE at $70,000 per FTE for a 12-month operating period, covering frontend, backend, support, administration, and audits. We consider the requested scope understandable for a cross-platform wallet with backend infrastructure, user support, app store obligations, hardware wallet support, and Cardano protocol compatibility requirements.

We also recognize the concerns. Eternl has previously received direct treasury funding, the current proposal is self-administered by Tastenkunst GmbH, and it is not milestone-based. The proposal’s claims about transaction share are not independently evidenced in the material provided. These concerns are material, but on balance, we believe the ecosystem risk of losing or significantly reducing a widely used wallet during a transition to paid plans outweighs the risk of supporting this time-limited withdrawal.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. Our support is based on Eternl’s practical importance to Cardano users and the proposal’s stated path toward paid-plan sustainability and treasury repayment. We encourage the team to provide clear public reporting on fund custody, Pro plan adoption, and any repayments, so the community can assess whether this transition model is working.

---

> **_NOTE on 'Internal Voting':_**

> The fields _constitutional_ and _unconstitutional_ below reflect the CF governance teams' individual opinions whether they are _for_ or _against_ the proposal. Reason for this inconsistency is, that CIP-136 is at the moment only applicable to CC rationales, but we want to record the internal opinions of our DRep assessment transparently as well.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. We believe Scalus is a credible application platform that supports Cardano’s developer experience, node diversity, and scalable application delivery, with appropriate milestone oversight.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

We recognize Lantr Engineering as a capable and professional team with three years of continuous delivery behind Scalus. Our decision to support this proposal is driven by the following factors:

• Demonstrated Delivery and Adoption: This proposal extends an existing platform rather than funding a greenfield concept. Lantr delivered against its 2025 Treasury Withdrawal, and our technical reviewers note that Scalus is, in their assessment, among the smart-contract ecosystems on Cardano showing measurable adoption, with capabilities already integrated into MeshJS SDK, Cardano Client Lib, and Evolution SDK, and projects such as Hydrozoa and Bifrost building on it. We view a track record of shipped, used infrastructure as material evidence of execution capability.
• Strategic Alignment: The proposal aligns with the Core Development principle of "Our Cardano." An application-focused, JVM-native node contributes to client diversity and conformance work alongside the Node Diversity initiative, mitigating single points of failure, while the broader platform targets the application layer that underpins Cardano 2030's adoption goals.
• Robust Administration and Oversight: Funds are held in the independently audited SundaeSwap treasury-contracts escrow, with milestone-based vesting, an independent oversight board empowered to co-sign disbursements and halt funding, an independent technical assurer (No.Witness Labs), and an external financial audit. Escrowed funds are subject to auto-abstain DRep delegation and no SPO delegation, and unused funds sweep back to the Treasury at the contract level. This is a suitable standard of verifiable transparency and accountable deployment.

We note that not all of these merits are yet fully proven: the platform's uptake into shipped, end-user applications remains an open question, and the roadmap depends in part on third-party projects. We view the proposal's milestone structure, public quarterly reporting, and oversight mechanisms as adequate to surface and manage these risks during delivery.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. We commend Lantr Engineering for building on a proven platform with disciplined budgeting and strong oversight, and we look forward to seeing the funded work translate into more teams shipping, operating, and scaling serious applications on Cardano.

---

> **_NOTE on 'Internal Voting':_**

> The fields _constitutional_ and _unconstitutional_ below reflect the CF governance teams' individual opinions whether they are _for_ or _against_ the proposal. Reason for this inconsistency is, that CIP-136 is at the moment only applicable to CC rationales, but we want to record the internal opinions of our DRep assessment transparently as well.

The Cardano Foundation votes NO. While we recognise the importance of sustaining open source infrastructure, a 12,000,000 ada upfront withdrawal with vacant councils, an unformed legal entity, and unreconciled budget calculation is not a structure we can support.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

We commend Christian Taylor and the Open Source Cowboy Consulting team for identifying a real and pressing problem. The risks documented in the proposal, single-maintainer dependencies, bus factor of one across critical libraries, and the absence of a systematic dependency map for Cardano's open source stack, are genuine, and the ambition to address them through a data-driven, independently governed framework aligns with principles we hold. We also welcome the explicit independence from founding entities.

However, the operational and financial architecture of this specific proposal carries risks we cannot accept. Our concerns are based on the following points:

• Disproportionate Upfront Capital Commitment: A 12,000,000 ada withdrawal disbursed over 36 months removes the iterative funding leverage that DReps rely on to enforce accountability mid-program. Although some multi-year withdrawals can work, we find this withdrawal’s proposed structure unsuited to an upfront payment. For a framework whose central premise is that selection should follow published data, requesting the full multi-year envelope before that data exists inverts the order of evidence and capital.
• Governance Structure Not Yet in Place: The two advisory councils, totaling up to 14 seats, are central to every funding decision in WP2 through WP5, yet at the time of voting, no members are named and no letters of intent are provided. The formation of these bodies and the dOSPO legal entity is treated as a milestone to be completed after funds are released rather than as a precondition for them. This sequencing, committing the capital before the accountability structure exists, mirrors the concerns we have raised on other proposals.
• Budget Reconciliation and Calculation Gaps: Our reviewers identified internal inconsistencies between the work-package tables, the operations breakdown, and the stated cohort and stipend figures in WP3. For a 12,000,000 ada request that positions itself as a model of transparent stewardship, the budget tables should reconcile precisely on submission.
• Overlap with Existing Ecosystem Programmes: The proposal's scope materially overlaps with Intersect's Paid Open Source Model retainers and bounty work, including a separate POSM continuation request submitted via the Intersect Budget Process 2026. We see no formal coordination mechanism, memorandum of understanding, or transition agreement that would prevent double funding or institutional fragmentation.
• Administrative Load Relative to Program Output: Roughly 2,000,000 ada is allocated to operations and governance infrastructure over the term. We find the scope of this expense too broad and it warrants either tighter scoping or, as suggested in advisory feedback, a cap that limits upside exposure of the treasury over a multi-year horizon.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation votes NO. We value the independence of this initiative and the structural problem it seeks to solve, but a multi-year, multi-million-ada commitment cannot precede the councils, the entity, and the dependency data it depends on. We encourage the proposer to return with a tightly scoped pilot and look forward to engaging on a revised submission.

---

> **_NOTE on 'Internal Voting':_**

> The fields _constitutional_ and _unconstitutional_ below reflect the CF governance teams' individual opinions whether they are _for_ or _against_ the proposal. Reason for this inconsistency is, that CIP-136 is at the moment only applicable to CC rationales, but we want to record the internal opinions of our DRep assessment transparently as well.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. The proposal advances a use case where Cardano can deliver value beyond the ecosystem itself, building on an operational Mainnet deployment.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

We commend the 5am.earth team, Syngenta Foundation India, and the wider consortium for the work already delivered through Project Swaminathan and for tackling a problem, verifiable identity, land, crop, and credit information for smallholder farmers, where Cardano is genuinely well placed to contribute. The cited Mainnet address is active, the Catalyst Fund 13 baseline is real, and the integration cohort (Veridian, Andamio, NMKR, AIQuant, Anastasia Labs) comprises components that already exist on Cardano rather than greenfield builds. The proposal's "verify once, use many times" principle is effectively demonstrated through its integrated application paths, which include stablecoin-rail credit, EUDR-compliance supported traceability, and AE credentialing.

Our decision is driven by the following factors:

• Strategic alignment with Cardano's purpose: Agricultural identity, traceability, and access to finance for smallholder farmers are real-world use cases where Cardano can create value beyond the ecosystem itself, in line with the principles set out in "Our Cardano". The trust-layer architecture is designed as shared, open infrastructure rather than a single commercial product, which we view as the appropriate posture for a Treasury-funded establishment phase.
• Live operational foundation: Unlike many proposals at this scale, the program is not a concept. Registration transactions are accruing on Cardano today, and the consortium has a credible distribution mechanism through the existing Agri-Entrepreneur network. This reduces execution risk relative to a clean-sheet build.
• Constitutional compliance and administration: The proposal is administered by Intersect on standard terms via the audited Sundae Labs Treasury Reserve and Project-Specific Smart Contract framework, with milestone-gated disbursements, an independent third-party assurer procured at M1, and an explicit refund regime. These are positive signs that the CC will consider this proposal constitutional.

We nonetheless have reservations that we encourage the proposers to consider:

• Budget granularity: For a 10,000,000 ada withdrawal, the proposal provides categories rather than partner-level allocations, FTE counts, rates, or milestone-level costs. We would encourage the proposers to include more granularity in the Legal Contract administered by Intersect and in the public dashboard.
• Payment structure: A 5/2/3 schedule front-loads 5,000,000 ada on approval and releases the final 3,000,000 ada at M2, which means M3, Self-Sustaining, is not itself a payment gate. We would have preferred a meaningful holdback tied to the final audit and to credible evidence of post-Treasury sustainability.
• Subsidised on-chain activity: The allocation toward on-chain transaction costs is acceptable as a bootstrap, but subsidized transactions do not demonstrate organic demand for blockspace. We expect the M2 and M3 reporting to make clear who pays these fees once the subsidy ends, and how the 2028 self-sustaining target is being underwritten.
• Delineation from prior funding: The proposal should distinguish more clearly which components are already delivered under Catalyst Fund 13 and which deliverables this withdrawal funds, so the marginal value of Treasury support is unambiguous.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. Our support is grounded in the strategic value of the use case and the operational maturity of the underlying Cardano integration. We look forward to the M1, M2, and M3 evidence and the public KPI dashboard, and we encourage the consortium to use the funded period to demonstrate that the trust layer can sustain itself on commercial and institutional backing beyond Treasury support.

---

NOTE on 'Internal Voting':
The fields constitutional and unconstitutional below reflect the CF governance teams' individual opinions whether they are for or against the proposal. Reason for this inconsistency is, that CIP-136 is at the moment only applicable to CC rationales, but we want to record the internal opinions of our DRep assessment transparently as well.

The Cardano Foundation votes ABSTAIN on this proposal. We deeply value peer-reviewed research as an enduring strength of Cardano, but the heavily bundled scope, the overlap with other funded work, and the absence of a clearly stated program duration prevent our support at this time.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

The Cardano Foundation recognizes Input Output Research, its academic consortium, and Professor Aggelos Kiayias's team as a serious scientific contributor whose work has materially advanced the network. Foundational, peer-reviewed research remains one of Cardano's distinctive value propositions, and we have no wish to see that momentum stall. Our ABSTAIN is not a rejection of funding research; it is a signal that this specific request, in its current form, is not one we can endorse or oppose with confidence. Our decision is driven by the following factors:

• Heavily Bundled Scope: The proposal combines seven work packages and 36 FTEs into a single omnibus request of 32,916,000 ada. The proposers themselves identify six distinct clusters, which suggests the work could be presented as separable units. Consistent with our stated reservations about bundled treasury requests, we believe DReps should be able to assess and fund these workstreams individually. Where unbundling is impractical, a clear justification for keeping items combined should be provided.
• Overlap with Other Funded Work: Several streams appear to overlap with initiatives already underway or separately funded elsewhere in the ecosystem, for example, consensus research around Leios and Peras, and incentive design that intersects with existing community working groups. The proposal does not make clear how this funding avoids duplication, and we would expect explicit coordination with the teams already delivering in these areas.
• Disproportionate Treatment of High-Value Research: We view the post-quantum security workstream as among the most strategically important and least replaceable elements of this program, given its dependence on specialized cryptographic expertise and academic partnerships. Yet it represents a comparatively small share of the budget. We would welcome a structure that prioritizes this work more prominently.
• Absence of a Stated Duration: The proposal outlines reporting checkpoints and four equal funding tranches but does not clearly state the overall program duration against which the budget should be assessed. This omission makes the request harder to evaluate and warrants clarification.
• Budget and Community Alignment: At approximately $219.5k per FTE, the cost basis warrants scrutiny, and we believe the operation could be streamlined. We also encourage IOR to engage the ecosystem's builders more consistently throughout the year, ensuring that research is shaped by Cardano's practical needs rather than pursued in isolation.

We commend the transparency of this submission, which discloses per-project FTEs, deliverables, and named researchers. For transparency on our side, we note that the Cardano Foundation is a member of the 2025 Treasury Reserve Smart Contract Oversight Committee that this withdrawal would initially use; that role concerns administrative verification, not governance discretion, and is distinct from our vote as a DRep.

The Cardano Foundation votes ABSTAIN on this proposal. Our abstention reflects the value we place on research balanced against the structural concerns above, and it should not be read as opposition to funding Cardano's scientific work. We encourage IOR to unbundle the proposal along its own six clusters where sensible, clarify overlaps and program duration, and elevate the post-quantum effort, and we look forward to reviewing a revised, more focused submission.

---

NOTE on 'Internal Voting':
The fields constitutional and unconstitutional below reflect the CF governance teams' individual opinions whether they are for or against the proposal. Reason for this inconsistency is, that CIP-136 is at the moment only applicable to CC rationales, but we want to record the internal opinions of our DRep assessment transparently as well.

The Cardano Foundation votes NO on OriLife. The proposal seeks a non-refundable grant for a private commercial venture with negligible Treasury return and high execution risks. We encourage a revised submission structured as a loan with openly licensed IP and reduced upfront exposure.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

We acknowledge the OriLife Alliance as a committed team that has invested its own capital, deployed across multiple farms over two harvest seasons, and built institutional relationships in Đắk Lắk. We further recognize that the regulatory pressure cited, Vietnam's Circular 11/2026/TT-BCT and China's GACC requirements, is real, and that tamper-resistant traceability is a legitimate problem worth solving.

Our NO vote is not a rejection of the problem or the team, but of this specific request as structured. After reviewing our concerns, rest on the following points:

1. Insubstantial and Mischaracterized Treasury Return: The proposal presents "~75,000 ada permanently locked at M4" as a Treasury return. This is incorrect: minADA remains locked in a UTXO, not returned to the Treasury. Against a 2,400,000 ada withdrawal, the stated fee contribution of roughly 28,000–28,800 ada per year implies a payback horizon approaching a century. The non-fee returns the proposal cites, new users and strategic positioning, are real but do not, in our view, justify a withdrawal of this magnitude on these terms.
2. A Commercial Venture Better Suited to a Loan: The core technology is protected by four private USPTO provisional patent applications held by GreenSun Tech, and the project plans recurring revenue through B2B compliance SaaS and a proprietary MAGIC token economy. A closed-loop enterprise extracting private, recurring fees is, in our view, more appropriately structured as a repayable loan tied to its commercial revenue than as a non-refundable subsidy.
3. Unproven Adoption at Scale: The Alliance's prior TonFarm pilot failed on fraud resistance and cost. The current proposal assumes that a legal mandate will translate into seamless uptake of a biometric, seedless mobile application by elderly, low-tech farmers across 46 communes. Real-world product-market fit among this population remains unproven, and a legal deadline does not, by itself, guarantee adoption.
4. Unaddressed Execution Risks: The proposal omits the false-positive and error rates of the Bio-ID system when scanning soiled or degraded fruit skins in field conditions, central to the anti-fraud claim. It also introduces a fiat-to-MAGIC currency abstraction whose friction for rural users is not assessed. We hold proposers to the standard of substantiating their own claims, and these gaps are material.
5. Front-Loaded Counterparty Risk: The 360,000 ada M0 mobilisation advance disburses immediately upon ratification. Despite the clawback provisions, an upfront advance of this size places early Treasury capital at counterparty risk before any milestone is delivered.

We would be prepared to reconsider a revised submission that restructures the request as a repayable loan, openly licenses the core validation and identity protocols for the broader ecosystem, and removes or substantially reduces the upfront advance.

The Cardano Foundation votes NO. Our decision reflects the proposal's negligible Treasury return, its character as a private commercial venture seeking a grant, and unresolved risks of adoption and execution, not a dismissal of the underlying problem or the team's evident effort. We encourage the Alliance to return with a loan-based structure, openly licensed core IP, and reduced upfront exposure, and we remain willing to engage constructively on a model that aligns its commercial success with the Treasury's interests.

---

NOTE on 'Internal Voting':
The fields constitutional and unconstitutional below reflect the CF governance teams' individual opinions whether they are for or against the proposal. Reason for this inconsistency is, that CIP-136 is at the moment only applicable to CC rationales, but we want to record the internal opinions of our DRep assessment transparently as well.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. We support updating the Plutus V3 Cost Model to enable the new Plutus primitives that will be available following the van Rossem hard fork. The provided reference materials and socialization proofs satisfy our requirements for this parameter change.

The Cardano Foundation votes NO. We recognize Tweag's long-standing contribution to Cardano's core infrastructure and the strategic value of Peras, but the bundled two-year scope, unresolved 2025 delivery, and insufficient budget transparency prevent our approval. We encourage a leaner resubmission.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

The Cardano Foundation recognizes Tweag by Modus Create as a deeply experienced contributor to Cardano's core infrastructure, engaged on the consensus and ledger layers since 2018 and central to the design of Peras. We see strategic value in this portfolio, and we regard faster finality through Peras, alongside conformance, mutation, and adversarial-fork testing, as public-good infrastructure that strengthens the network's security and resilience.

Our NO vote is not a rejection of this work or of Peras, but of this specific governance action as submitted. Our concerns are based on the following points:

• Improper Bundling: The proposal is, by the proposer's own description, "a single delivery pipeline, not a modular menu," requiring DReps to approve high-value mainnet delivery together with narrower tooling, extensions, and routine maintenance. This forces an all-or-nothing decision on workstreams of very different strategic priority and maturity, and prevents us from supporting the strongest components on their own merits.
• Insufficient Financial Transparency: A treasury request of 39,787,316 ada (approximately $9,946,829) over two years is supported only by a headline blended rate and conversion assumption. Milestone-level budgets, FTE allocation, subcontractor and audit costs, overhead, and the basis for the contingency are not disclosed in a way that lets DReps independently assess whether the amount is appropriately scoped.
• Unclear Relationship to Prior Funding: In 2025, Tweag has already received 11,070,322.68 ada from the Treasury for related workstreams. Public information indicates that several 2025 workstreams were paused or remain incomplete, attributed to ada conversion timing and price movement. The current action does not provide an independently auditable closeout of that prior funding, nor a clean separation between completing prior obligations, recovering a shortfall, and genuinely new work. We do not believe the Treasury should absorb a prior funding shortfall embedded into a larger new portfolio without granular accounting.
• Timeline and Net Change Limit Discipline: A two-year package spanning 2026–2028 is difficult to reconcile with treasury discipline under the applicable Net Change Limit period. A shorter horizon would allow the community to reassess scope, delivery, and cost against demonstrated results.

Recommendations for a Future Submission

This NO vote is intended to be constructive. We would encourage the proposer to prepare a revised submission that:

• Unbundles the portfolio, separating Peras v1 mainnet readiness and the minimum required safety scaffolding from Peras v2, developer tooling, Hoarding Node extensions, and ongoing maintenance, so each can be judged on its own justification.
• Discloses milestone-level financials, including FTE, subcontractor, audit, overhead, and contingency breakdowns, with strict payment gates and clawback terms for non-delivery.
• Publishes an independently auditable 2025 closeout report with milestone acceptance evidence, and clearly identifies which 2026 costs complete prior obligations versus new work.
• Aligns with a shorter horizon, such as 12 months or the current NCL period, rather than a 2-year package.

The Cardano Foundation votes NO. This vote is intended to be constructive: we encourage Tweag to return with leaner, modular proposals that prioritize Peras v1 mainnet readiness, align with a shorter funding horizon, publish an independently auditable 2025 closeout, and provide milestone-level budget and delivery detail. We value Tweag's work and look forward to reviewing a revised submission on these terms.

---

NOTE on 'Internal Voting':
The fields constitutional and unconstitutional below reflect the CF governance teams' individual opinions whether they are for or against the proposal. Reason for this inconsistency is, that CIP-136 is at the moment only applicable to CC rationales, but we want to record the internal opinions of our DRep assessment transparently as well.

This document includes the Cardano Foundation’s voting decisions and individual voting rationales for nine Treasury Withdrawal governance actions submitted by Input Output Global.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

We have decided to create a unified document to record our votes as many of the initiatives are connected.

We invite the proposers and anyone else from the Cardano Community to carefully review our individual rationales below per proposal, as well as the following table.

Governance Action Title	CF DRep Vote
97. IO - Developer Experience Initiative	NO
98. IO - Cardano Upgrades	YES
99. IO - Consensus Initiative	YES
100. IO & Ensurable Systems - Cardano Maintenance Initiative	ABSTAIN
101. IO & Midgard Labs - L2 Scalability Initiative	ABSTAIN
102. IO - Cardano High Assurance Technical Collaboration	YES
103. IO & VacuumLabs - Enhancing Plutus - Performance, Correctness, and Usability	NO
104. Blockfrost - Maintenance and Next Generation Indexing	NO
105. Pogun - Capital Without Compromise	YES

Individual Rationales

The following section contains all nine individual voting rationales for the above-mentioned proposals.

97. IO - Developer Experience Initiative

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes NO. We are eager to collaborate on DevX, but this proposal is expensive, lacks financial granularity, and risks duplicating ecosystem efforts. We encourage returning with a leaner, more detailed, and coordinated resubmission addressing the points as recommended below.

Rationale Statement

We recognize that developer onboarding is a critical vertical, and we appreciate the proposers targeting legitimate ecosystem pain points. While we fully support the overarching goals, we cannot approve this treasury withdrawal in its current form due to the following structural and financial concerns:

1. Costs Lacking Granularity: The request for approximately 900k USD is exceptionally high for a 6-month timeframe. The budget lacks a meaningful Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) breakdown, allocating 81% to a broadly categorized "Development & Engineering" bucket. This makes it difficult to distinguish between community bounties, hackathon prizes, and administrative overhead, hindering our ability to evaluate financial proportionality.Creating CLI tooling, cleaning documentation, and building contract templates can be achieved in a cost-effective way which does not require a budget of this size.
2. Overlap with Active CF and Intersect Initiatives: The proposal intends to restructure the "Developer HUB" using the Developer Portal as its primary entry point. The Developer Portal is already actively maintained, funded, and strategized by the Cardano Foundation alongside Intersect committees. While we are highly receptive to ecosystem contributions, requesting nearly 900k USD to duplicate or restructure ongoing work is inefficient. We would welcome collaboration on this workstream to improve cost efficiency.
3. Severe Execution Risk: The proposal requests funding for only six months. The proposer indicates that the engineering team for these workstreams has not yet been established and will be hired using the funds released from this withdrawal. Setting up a new team and familiarizing them with the necessary ecosystem intricacies will conservatively consume a significant portion of this short timeframe, jeopardizing the delivery schedule. A future proposal would be significantly strengthened by establishing an upfront execution structure. Clearly identifying, aligning, and sharing ownership with ecosystem partners from the outset ensures precise accountability for all deliverables.
4. Lack of Long-Term Ownership and Maintenance: There is no clear transition strategy for the resulting products (such as cardano-init or the contracts library) after the initial six-month funding period. The ecosystem requires continuous, ongoing feedback and maintenance for developer tools, rather than a highly expensive, short-term sprint that risks leaving behind abandoned infrastructure if subsequent funding is not secured.
5. Open Source Fragmentation: While cardano-init is explicitly designed as an aggregation layer to unify and elevate existing ecosystem tools rather than replace them, its long-term value hinges heavily on sustained community buy-in. The proposal’s strategy for allocating bounties and incentives to existing tool maintainers is a strong step toward coordination. However, the primary risk shifts from community fragmentation to the execution of integrations: we must ensure that external toolmakers actively maintain these integrations over time so the aggregator remains a reliable, up-to-date entry point for new developers.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation votes NO. While the ambition to improve Cardano's developer experience is valued, this proposal's steep cost, execution risks, and overlapping scope prevent us from approving it in its current form. To secure approval, a resubmission must be leaner, more cost-effective and provide a granular FTE budget breakdown for financial transparency. It should also integrate with active Cardano Foundation and Intersect initiatives to avoid duplicating ongoing work, establish an execution structure with a pre-identified team to ensure delivery within the tight six-month window, and outline a strategy for long-term maintenance and community buy-in.

98. IO - Cardano Upgrades

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. CIP-159, CPS-23, and Native Babel Fees have potential to improve L2 reserves, protect against volatility, and improve onboarding. Despite certain budget and execution concerns, we view the 13.1M ada ask as an acceptable investment.

Rationale Statement

We recognize the impact these three platform-level capabilities will have on Cardano’s economic models and ecosystem growth. We are voting YES based on the following technical and strategic assessments:

1. Critical Infrastructure and Economic Resilience: The CIP-159 (Account Address Enhancements) upgrade bridges the gap between UTXO and Account models. By solving the minUTxO constraints, it enables micro-fee collection, cheaper DeFi batcher operations, and introduces new smart contract paradigms more familiar to EVM developers. Furthermore, it is a prerequisite for seamless L2 reserve management. CPS-23 (Multi-Asset Treasury) enables the Cardano Treasury to hold stablecoins or other native assets, which is a next step for long-term sustainability. It could protect the ecosystem's funding runway from ADA price volatility and introduce the potential for diverse treasury holdings.
2. Native Babel Fees and Onboarding: While non-native (smart contract-based) Babel fees currently exist within the ecosystem, they have struggled to gain significant traction. Allowing users to interact with Cardano DApps using stablecoins or bridged assets without first acquiring ADA will hopefully be a driver for mainstream institutional and retail adoption.

3. Feedback for Ongoing Alignment: While we support funding this initiative, there are elements of this proposal which raised concerns and we wish to offer feedback.

Implementing CIP-159 fundamentally alters Cardano's accounting model. With alternative nodes like Amaru and Dingo actively in development, introducing such massive ledger changes requires careful coordination. Making frequent, significant modifications directly onto the Layer 1 core ledger introduces substantial maintenance fatigue for open-source builders, which can be lessened with coordination. We urge IO to collaborate to establish a clear framework for alignment with other node implementation and material downstream tooling teams to prevent consensus fragmentation.

Workstream 2 allocates roughly $565,000 USD primarily to design and draft the Multi-Asset Treasury CIP. For a design-phase deliverable, this is a premium investment. We expect this effort to feature rigorous, high-quality deliverables, contributions to improvements to the overall CIP process and extensive community consultation to reflect the amount.

Workstream 3 includes integration with the Lace wallet. Given the use of treasury funds, we expect the IO team to ensure that the underlying infrastructure for Native Babel Fees is open and easily accessible for all ecosystem wallets, Tx builders (e.g., Mesh, Lucid Evolution), and indexers, rather than focusing support solely on its own products.

Although these concerns are valid, we appreciate the dialogue with IOG on this proposal which contributed to this voting decision.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. The combination of Account Enhancements, a Multi-Asset Treasury, and Native Babel Fees represents a step forward for Cardano's scalability, developer experience, and economic sustainability.

99. IO - Consensus Initiative

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. Leios is important for scaling Cardano and long-term competitiveness. Despite concerns over budget opacity and prior funding overlaps, delaying this upgrade risks ecosystem stagnation. We approve to ensure development continuity.

Rationale Statement

We recognize the impact that the Consensus Initiative (Leios) will have on the network’s capacity. We are voting YES based on the following technical and strategic assessments:

1. Essential Base Layer Scaling: Scaling through Leios is fundamentally positive and provides Cardano with a massive upgrade. To ensure Cardano remains competitive with newer Layer 1 blockchains in terms of throughput, upgrading the base protocol is non-negotiable. This prevents the network from adopting unsustainable design patterns, such as forcing all high-volume activity to Layer 2 solutions.
2. Core Infrastructure Investment: This proposal is a direct investment in the core protocol infrastructure. The Leios research phase has produced solid, academic-level work fully in the spirit of a peer-reviewed blockchain.
3. Development Continuity: Leios development requires highly specialized knowledge. Voting NO at this critical juncture would risk halting momentum, meaning expert engineering teams would need to be replaced or re-assembled at a later date. Approving this proposal ensures the unbroken continuation of the roadmap toward the Dijkstra era.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. We recognize that Leios is a credible path available to meet Cardano's 2030 scaling ambitions. While we have significant concerns regarding the insufficiently detailed, escalating budget, the risk of derailing base-layer scaling is too significant.

100. IO & Ensurable Systems - Cardano Maintenance Initiative

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes ABSTAIN. We appreciate the dialogue with IOG on this proposal, which contributed to our voting decision. While continuous maintenance is important for long-term network stability, this 62.1M ada proposal presents fiscal uncertainty and the scope appears to duplicate funding of other concurrent initiatives.

Rationale Statement

While the critical importance of keeping the network operating securely is undisputed, our evaluation reflects several material concerns regarding the current formulation of the proposal:

1. Lack of Budget Detail/Potential Duplications: This proposal bundles nine maintenance workstreams into a single budget, grouping 74% (46M ada) of the funds into a broad "Development" category, which, without a granular Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) headcount breakdown, limits the capacity to verify cost efficiency. Additionally, given that the same development teams contribute across multiple initiatives, there appears to be a funding overlap with resources already requested in the Upgrades, Plutus, Consensus, and Developer Experience proposals. Providing a more detailed budget breakdown would help the community in conducting a clear cost-benefit analysis and ensure there is no duplication of funding.
2. Lack of Quantifiable Deliverables: The proposal functions structurally as an open-ended funding commitment lacking defined technical boundaries, presenting a deficit of tangible deliverables, milestones, or open-source repository evidence mapping out the work. Without clear engineering baselines, it acts as an unquantifiable blanket retainer that challenges our ability to properly assess the proposal.
3. Substantial Budget Inflation: The requested amount of 62.1M ada (approximately 14.9M USD) represents a high allocation of treasury resources. Industry baselines indicate that these costs are significantly inflated relative to the actual operational overhead required for equivalent DevOps and core maintenance tasks.
4. Structural Preference for Targeted Initiatives: The Cardano Foundation maintains a clear structural preference for a modular funding framework wherever possible. Funding generalized blanket proposals introduces fiscal uncertainty, whereas smaller, targeted sub-proposals (such as specific consensus, developer experience, or scaling layer initiatives) feature transparent line-item budgets and clearly defined milestones that allow for rigorous milestone-based verification.
5. Node Diversity Risks: To support a healthy multi-client ecosystem, overarching services such as global network monitoring and core documentation (e.g., the Cardano Blueprint) should be gradually decoupled from node-specific maintenance to ensure a completely product-agnostic and inclusive infrastructure landscape.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation votes ABSTAIN. We appreciate the critical nature of network maintenance and the expertise of the proposing teams. However, we require greater financial transparency, and a more node-agnostic approach to ecosystem tooling in order to properly assess this proposal. If this proposal does not reach the required approval threshold, we ask the proposers to refine and resubmit. A resubmission would greatly benefit from a decoupled structure, detailed FTE allocations, and an independent oversight mechanism to ensure verifiable and neutral delivery.

101. IO & Midgard Labs - L2 Scalability Initiative

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes ABSTAIN. While Layer 2 scaling is important for enterprise DApps, the proposal's lack of budget granularity, contested IP, and unresolved 2025 milestones introduce uncertainty. While we do not oppose this proposal, we urge a refined resubmission if it does not pass.

Rationale Statement

We support the technological objectives and the necessity of Layer 2 scaling, however we require further clarity regarding the following uncertainties before we are able to support:

1. Unclear Scope and Structural Bundling: The proposal bundles two Layer 2 technologies at different stages of their respective product lifecycles into a single governance action. Furthermore, the financial distribution is skewed; despite being a titular focus of the initiative, the Midgard workstream receives only 9% of the allocated funding, while Hydra consumes approximately 73%.
2. Milestone Accountability and Prior Deliverables: Midgard's 2025 funded milestones under contract EC-0001-25 were previously reported as past due and paused. While new evidence was submitted on May 19 to claim milestones 2–5, these submissions remain pending final verification. Committing additional treasury resources without a fully finalized reconciliation of past deliverables introduces significant fiscal uncertainty.
3. Budget Granularity and Potential Overlaps: The 10.4M ada request lacks a granular breakdown. The technical scope for Workstream 2 (Hydra) closely mirrors the team's existing public roadmap and open pull requests, making it difficult to isolate net-new work from previously funded core engineering efforts. Additionally, the 1.8M ada requested for a bespoke Data Availability (DA) prototype does not sufficiently clarify why existing modular alternatives are unsuitable.
4. Technical, IP, and Organizational Risks: The proposal contains contradictory timelines regarding the Midgard mainnet launch (end of 2026 versus Q1 2027). Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) also noted unresolved authorship and payment disputes (e.g., PR #434) that introduce contested-IP risks. Finally, the legal distinction and relationship between "Midgard Labs" and Anastasia Labs require clarification to ensure accountability.
5. Unsubstantiated Metrics and Commercial Dependencies: Performance claims such as "10,000+ TPS" are presented without concrete benchmarking data or baseline metrics. Furthermore, the proposal relies heavily on specific commercial partners (like Delta DeFi and Masumi) continuing to build, without providing contingency plans. Ideally, commercial entities utilizing the stack for enterprise applications should contribute to the hardening of the infrastructure they rely upon.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation votes ABSTAIN. We appreciate the dialogue with IOG on this proposal which contributed to our voting decision. We value the technical ambition of this initiative and respect the engineering teams involved, but we cannot support this proposal in its current state without proper budget breakdowns, clarity on IP, and clear accountability for past milestones. If this proposal does not reach the required approval threshold, we ask the proposers to refine and resubmit their initiative.

102. IO - Cardano High Assurance Technical Collaboration

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. Automating formal verification is a strategic public good that reinforces network security. Despite significant concerns regarding budget opacity and adoption risks, the ecosystem benefits outweigh the reservations.

Rationale Statement

We support this proposal because it aligns with Cardano's core value proposition of security, correctness, and determinism. Our YES vote is grounded in the following primary drivers:

1. Strategic Digital Trust Infrastructure: Cardano’s underlying smart contract model, based on Lambda calculus and determinism, is uniquely positioned for formal mathematical verification. Recent high-profile vulnerabilities in EVM-based DeFi protocols, such as the ~$300M Kelp DAO exploit, highlight that verifiable security is a strict prerequisite for institutional adoption. This enables a shift away from high-risk environments toward highly secure, institutional-grade DeFi applications.
2. Universal Ecosystem Support via UPLC: The proposed automated verification tool, Blaster, operates directly on Untyped Plutus Core (UPLC). This architectural choice is strategic, as it avoids siloed development and simultaneously supports developers across the ecosystem, regardless of whether they write in Aiken, Plutus, or other high-level smart contract languages.
3. Lowering the Barrier to Entry: Historically, formal verification has been restricted to specialized experts. By providing a Lean4-based verification enabler, integrating it directly into native toolchains (e.g., VS Code), and offering extended "one-click" containerized developer environments, this initiative significantly democratizes access to production-ready, secure smart contract development.
4. AI-Agentic Workflow Readiness: As software engineering transitions toward AI-assisted development, the emphasis on robust Command Line Interfaces (CLIs) within this proposal provides a strong, secure foundation for future integration with autonomous AI agents, ensuring Cardano's toolchain remains forward-looking.
5. Reusable and Auditable Components: The initiative focuses on d

This document includes the Cardano Foundation’s voting decisions and individual voting rationales for nine Treasury Withdrawal governance actions submitted by Input Output Global.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

We have decided to create a unified document to record our votes as many of the initiatives are connected.

We invite the proposers and anyone else from the Cardano Community to carefully review our individual rationales below per proposal, as well as the following table.

Governance Action Title	CF DRep Vote
97. IO - Developer Experience Initiative	NO
98. IO - Cardano Upgrades	YES
99. IO - Consensus Initiative	YES
100. IO & Ensurable Systems - Cardano Maintenance Initiative	ABSTAIN
101. IO & Midgard Labs - L2 Scalability Initiative	ABSTAIN
102. IO - Cardano High Assurance Technical Collaboration	YES
103. IO & VacuumLabs - Enhancing Plutus - Performance, Correctness, and Usability	NO
104. Blockfrost - Maintenance and Next Generation Indexing	NO
105. Pogun - Capital Without Compromise	YES

Individual Rationales

The following section contains all nine individual voting rationales for the above-mentioned proposals.

97. IO - Developer Experience Initiative

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes NO. We are eager to collaborate on DevX, but this proposal is expensive, lacks financial granularity, and risks duplicating ecosystem efforts. We encourage returning with a leaner, more detailed, and coordinated resubmission addressing the points as recommended below.

Rationale Statement

We recognize that developer onboarding is a critical vertical, and we appreciate the proposers targeting legitimate ecosystem pain points. While we fully support the overarching goals, we cannot approve this treasury withdrawal in its current form due to the following structural and financial concerns:

1. Costs Lacking Granularity: The request for approximately 900k USD is exceptionally high for a 6-month timeframe. The budget lacks a meaningful Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) breakdown, allocating 81% to a broadly categorized "Development & Engineering" bucket. This makes it difficult to distinguish between community bounties, hackathon prizes, and administrative overhead, hindering our ability to evaluate financial proportionality.Creating CLI tooling, cleaning documentation, and building contract templates can be achieved in a cost-effective way which does not require a budget of this size.
2. Overlap with Active CF and Intersect Initiatives: The proposal intends to restructure the "Developer HUB" using the Developer Portal as its primary entry point. The Developer Portal is already actively maintained, funded, and strategized by the Cardano Foundation alongside Intersect committees. While we are highly receptive to ecosystem contributions, requesting nearly 900k USD to duplicate or restructure ongoing work is inefficient. We would welcome collaboration on this workstream to improve cost efficiency.
3. Severe Execution Risk: The proposal requests funding for only six months. The proposer indicates that the engineering team for these workstreams has not yet been established and will be hired using the funds released from this withdrawal. Setting up a new team and familiarizing them with the necessary ecosystem intricacies will conservatively consume a significant portion of this short timeframe, jeopardizing the delivery schedule. A future proposal would be significantly strengthened by establishing an upfront execution structure. Clearly identifying, aligning, and sharing ownership with ecosystem partners from the outset ensures precise accountability for all deliverables.
4. Lack of Long-Term Ownership and Maintenance: There is no clear transition strategy for the resulting products (such as cardano-init or the contracts library) after the initial six-month funding period. The ecosystem requires continuous, ongoing feedback and maintenance for developer tools, rather than a highly expensive, short-term sprint that risks leaving behind abandoned infrastructure if subsequent funding is not secured.
5. Open Source Fragmentation: While cardano-init is explicitly designed as an aggregation layer to unify and elevate existing ecosystem tools rather than replace them, its long-term value hinges heavily on sustained community buy-in. The proposal’s strategy for allocating bounties and incentives to existing tool maintainers is a strong step toward coordination. However, the primary risk shifts from community fragmentation to the execution of integrations: we must ensure that external toolmakers actively maintain these integrations over time so the aggregator remains a reliable, up-to-date entry point for new developers.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation votes NO. While the ambition to improve Cardano's developer experience is valued, this proposal's steep cost, execution risks, and overlapping scope prevent us from approving it in its current form. To secure approval, a resubmission must be leaner, more cost-effective and provide a granular FTE budget breakdown for financial transparency. It should also integrate with active Cardano Foundation and Intersect initiatives to avoid duplicating ongoing work, establish an execution structure with a pre-identified team to ensure delivery within the tight six-month window, and outline a strategy for long-term maintenance and community buy-in.

98. IO - Cardano Upgrades

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. CIP-159, CPS-23, and Native Babel Fees have potential to improve L2 reserves, protect against volatility, and improve onboarding. Despite certain budget and execution concerns, we view the 13.1M ada ask as an acceptable investment.

Rationale Statement

We recognize the impact these three platform-level capabilities will have on Cardano’s economic models and ecosystem growth. We are voting YES based on the following technical and strategic assessments:

1. Critical Infrastructure and Economic Resilience: The CIP-159 (Account Address Enhancements) upgrade bridges the gap between UTXO and Account models. By solving the minUTxO constraints, it enables micro-fee collection, cheaper DeFi batcher operations, and introduces new smart contract paradigms more familiar to EVM developers. Furthermore, it is a prerequisite for seamless L2 reserve management. CPS-23 (Multi-Asset Treasury) enables the Cardano Treasury to hold stablecoins or other native assets, which is a next step for long-term sustainability. It could protect the ecosystem's funding runway from ADA price volatility and introduce the potential for diverse treasury holdings.
2. Native Babel Fees and Onboarding: While non-native (smart contract-based) Babel fees currently exist within the ecosystem, they have struggled to gain significant traction. Allowing users to interact with Cardano DApps using stablecoins or bridged assets without first acquiring ADA will hopefully be a driver for mainstream institutional and retail adoption.

3. Feedback for Ongoing Alignment: While we support funding this initiative, there are elements of this proposal which raised concerns and we wish to offer feedback.

Implementing CIP-159 fundamentally alters Cardano's accounting model. With alternative nodes like Amaru and Dingo actively in development, introducing such massive ledger changes requires careful coordination. Making frequent, significant modifications directly onto the Layer 1 core ledger introduces substantial maintenance fatigue for open-source builders, which can be lessened with coordination. We urge IO to collaborate to establish a clear framework for alignment with other node implementation and material downstream tooling teams to prevent consensus fragmentation.

Workstream 2 allocates roughly $565,000 USD primarily to design and draft the Multi-Asset Treasury CIP. For a design-phase deliverable, this is a premium investment. We expect this effort to feature rigorous, high-quality deliverables, contributions to improvements to the overall CIP process and extensive community consultation to reflect the amount.

Workstream 3 includes integration with the Lace wallet. Given the use of treasury funds, we expect the IO team to ensure that the underlying infrastructure for Native Babel Fees is open and easily accessible for all ecosystem wallets, Tx builders (e.g., Mesh, Lucid Evolution), and indexers, rather than focusing support solely on its own products.

Although these concerns are valid, we appreciate the dialogue with IOG on this proposal which contributed to this voting decision.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. The combination of Account Enhancements, a Multi-Asset Treasury, and Native Babel Fees represents a step forward for Cardano's scalability, developer experience, and economic sustainability.

99. IO - Consensus Initiative

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. Leios is important for scaling Cardano and long-term competitiveness. Despite concerns over budget opacity and prior funding overlaps, delaying this upgrade risks ecosystem stagnation. We approve to ensure development continuity.

Rationale Statement

We recognize the impact that the Consensus Initiative (Leios) will have on the network’s capacity. We are voting YES based on the following technical and strategic assessments:

1. Essential Base Layer Scaling: Scaling through Leios is fundamentally positive and provides Cardano with a massive upgrade. To ensure Cardano remains competitive with newer Layer 1 blockchains in terms of throughput, upgrading the base protocol is non-negotiable. This prevents the network from adopting unsustainable design patterns, such as forcing all high-volume activity to Layer 2 solutions.
2. Core Infrastructure Investment: This proposal is a direct investment in the core protocol infrastructure. The Leios research phase has produced solid, academic-level work fully in the spirit of a peer-reviewed blockchain.
3. Development Continuity: Leios development requires highly specialized knowledge. Voting NO at this critical juncture would risk halting momentum, meaning expert engineering teams would need to be replaced or re-assembled at a later date. Approving this proposal ensures the unbroken continuation of the roadmap toward the Dijkstra era.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. We recognize that Leios is a credible path available to meet Cardano's 2030 scaling ambitions. While we have significant concerns regarding the insufficiently detailed, escalating budget, the risk of derailing base-layer scaling is too significant.

100. IO & Ensurable Systems - Cardano Maintenance Initiative

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes ABSTAIN. We appreciate the dialogue with IOG on this proposal, which contributed to our voting decision. While continuous maintenance is important for long-term network stability, this 62.1M ada proposal presents fiscal uncertainty and the scope appears to duplicate funding of other concurrent initiatives.

Rationale Statement

While the critical importance of keeping the network operating securely is undisputed, our evaluation reflects several material concerns regarding the current formulation of the proposal:

1. Lack of Budget Detail/Potential Duplications: This proposal bundles nine maintenance workstreams into a single budget, grouping 74% (46M ada) of the funds into a broad "Development" category, which, without a granular Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) headcount breakdown, limits the capacity to verify cost efficiency. Additionally, given that the same development teams contribute across multiple initiatives, there appears to be a funding overlap with resources already requested in the Upgrades, Plutus, Consensus, and Developer Experience proposals. Providing a more detailed budget breakdown would help the community in conducting a clear cost-benefit analysis and ensure there is no duplication of funding.
2. Lack of Quantifiable Deliverables: The proposal functions structurally as an open-ended funding commitment lacking defined technical boundaries, presenting a deficit of tangible deliverables, milestones, or open-source repository evidence mapping out the work. Without clear engineering baselines, it acts as an unquantifiable blanket retainer that challenges our ability to properly assess the proposal.
3. Substantial Budget Inflation: The requested amount of 62.1M ada (approximately 14.9M USD) represents a high allocation of treasury resources. Industry baselines indicate that these costs are significantly inflated relative to the actual operational overhead required for equivalent DevOps and core maintenance tasks.
4. Structural Preference for Targeted Initiatives: The Cardano Foundation maintains a clear structural preference for a modular funding framework wherever possible. Funding generalized blanket proposals introduces fiscal uncertainty, whereas smaller, targeted sub-proposals (such as specific consensus, developer experience, or scaling layer initiatives) feature transparent line-item budgets and clearly defined milestones that allow for rigorous milestone-based verification.
5. Node Diversity Risks: To support a healthy multi-client ecosystem, overarching services such as global network monitoring and core documentation (e.g., the Cardano Blueprint) should be gradually decoupled from node-specific maintenance to ensure a completely product-agnostic and inclusive infrastructure landscape.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation votes ABSTAIN. We appreciate the critical nature of network maintenance and the expertise of the proposing teams. However, we require greater financial transparency, and a more node-agnostic approach to ecosystem tooling in order to properly assess this proposal. If this proposal does not reach the required approval threshold, we ask the proposers to refine and resubmit. A resubmission would greatly benefit from a decoupled structure, detailed FTE allocations, and an independent oversight mechanism to ensure verifiable and neutral delivery.

101. IO & Midgard Labs - L2 Scalability Initiative

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes ABSTAIN. While Layer 2 scaling is important for enterprise DApps, the proposal's lack of budget granularity, contested IP, and unresolved 2025 milestones introduce uncertainty. While we do not oppose this proposal, we urge a refined resubmission if it does not pass.

Rationale Statement

We support the technological objectives and the necessity of Layer 2 scaling, however we require further clarity regarding the following uncertainties before we are able to support:

1. Unclear Scope and Structural Bundling: The proposal bundles two Layer 2 technologies at different stages of their respective product lifecycles into a single governance action. Furthermore, the financial distribution is skewed; despite being a titular focus of the initiative, the Midgard workstream receives only 9% of the allocated funding, while Hydra consumes approximately 73%.
2. Milestone Accountability and Prior Deliverables: Midgard's 2025 funded milestones under contract EC-0001-25 were previously reported as past due and paused. While new evidence was submitted on May 19 to claim milestones 2–5, these submissions remain pending final verification. Committing additional treasury resources without a fully finalized reconciliation of past deliverables introduces significant fiscal uncertainty.
3. Budget Granularity and Potential Overlaps: The 10.4M ada request lacks a granular breakdown. The technical scope for Workstream 2 (Hydra) closely mirrors the team's existing public roadmap and open pull requests, making it difficult to isolate net-new work from previously funded core engineering efforts. Additionally, the 1.8M ada requested for a bespoke Data Availability (DA) prototype does not sufficiently clarify why existing modular alternatives are unsuitable.
4. Technical, IP, and Organizational Risks: The proposal contains contradictory timelines regarding the Midgard mainnet launch (end of 2026 versus Q1 2027). Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) also noted unresolved authorship and payment disputes (e.g., PR #434) that introduce contested-IP risks. Finally, the legal distinction and relationship between "Midgard Labs" and Anastasia Labs require clarification to ensure accountability.
5. Unsubstantiated Metrics and Commercial Dependencies: Performance claims such as "10,000+ TPS" are presented without concrete benchmarking data or baseline metrics. Furthermore, the proposal relies heavily on specific commercial partners (like Delta DeFi and Masumi) continuing to build, without providing contingency plans. Ideally, commercial entities utilizing the stack for enterprise applications should contribute to the hardening of the infrastructure they rely upon.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation votes ABSTAIN. We appreciate the dialogue with IOG on this proposal which contributed to our voting decision. We value the technical ambition of this initiative and respect the engineering teams involved, but we cannot support this proposal in its current state without proper budget breakdowns, clarity on IP, and clear accountability for past milestones. If this proposal does not reach the required approval threshold, we ask the proposers to refine and resubmit their initiative.

102. IO - Cardano High Assurance Technical Collaboration

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. Automating formal verification is a strategic public good that reinforces network security. Despite significant concerns regarding budget opacity and adoption risks, the ecosystem benefits outweigh the reservations.

Rationale Statement

We support this proposal because it aligns with Cardano's core value proposition of security, correctness, and determinism. Our YES vote is grounded in the following primary drivers:

1. Strategic Digital Trust Infrastructure: Cardano’s underlying smart contract model, based on Lambda calculus and determinism, is uniquely positioned for formal mathematical verification. Recent high-profile vulnerabilities in EVM-based DeFi protocols, such as the ~$300M Kelp DAO exploit, highlight that verifiable security is a strict prerequisite for institutional adoption. This enables a shift away from high-risk environments toward highly secure, institutional-grade DeFi applications.
2. Universal Ecosystem Support via UPLC: The proposed automated verification tool, Blaster, operates directly on Untyped Plutus Core (UPLC). This architectural choice is strategic, as it avoids siloed development and simultaneously supports developers across the ecosystem, regardless of whether they write in Aiken, Plutus, or other high-level smart contract languages.
3. Lowering the Barrier to Entry: Historically, formal verification has been restricted to specialized experts. By providing a Lean4-based verification enabler, integrating it directly into native toolchains (e.g., VS Code), and offering extended "one-click" containerized developer environments, this initiative significantly democratizes access to production-ready, secure smart contract development.
4. AI-Agentic Workflow Readiness: As software engineering transitions toward AI-assisted development, the emphasis on robust Command Line Interfaces (CLIs) within this proposal provides a strong, secure foundation for future integration with autonomous AI agents, ensuring Cardano's toolchain remains forward-looking.
5. Reusable and Auditable Components: The initiative focuses on d

This document includes the Cardano Foundation’s voting decisions and individual voting rationales for nine Treasury Withdrawal governance actions submitted by Input Output Global.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

We have decided to create a unified document to record our votes as many of the initiatives are connected.

We invite the proposers and anyone else from the Cardano Community to carefully review our individual rationales below per proposal, as well as the following table.

Governance Action Title	CF DRep Vote
97. IO - Developer Experience Initiative	NO
98. IO - Cardano Upgrades	YES
99. IO - Consensus Initiative	YES
100. IO & Ensurable Systems - Cardano Maintenance Initiative	ABSTAIN
101. IO & Midgard Labs - L2 Scalability Initiative	ABSTAIN
102. IO - Cardano High Assurance Technical Collaboration	YES
103. IO & VacuumLabs - Enhancing Plutus - Performance, Correctness, and Usability	NO
104. Blockfrost - Maintenance and Next Generation Indexing	NO
105. Pogun - Capital Without Compromise	YES

Individual Rationales

The following section contains all nine individual voting rationales for the above-mentioned proposals.

97. IO - Developer Experience Initiative

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes NO. We are eager to collaborate on DevX, but this proposal is expensive, lacks financial granularity, and risks duplicating ecosystem efforts. We encourage returning with a leaner, more detailed, and coordinated resubmission addressing the points as recommended below.

Rationale Statement

We recognize that developer onboarding is a critical vertical, and we appreciate the proposers targeting legitimate ecosystem pain points. While we fully support the overarching goals, we cannot approve this treasury withdrawal in its current form due to the following structural and financial concerns:

1. Costs Lacking Granularity: The request for approximately 900k USD is exceptionally high for a 6-month timeframe. The budget lacks a meaningful Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) breakdown, allocating 81% to a broadly categorized "Development & Engineering" bucket. This makes it difficult to distinguish between community bounties, hackathon prizes, and administrative overhead, hindering our ability to evaluate financial proportionality.Creating CLI tooling, cleaning documentation, and building contract templates can be achieved in a cost-effective way which does not require a budget of this size.
2. Overlap with Active CF and Intersect Initiatives: The proposal intends to restructure the "Developer HUB" using the Developer Portal as its primary entry point. The Developer Portal is already actively maintained, funded, and strategized by the Cardano Foundation alongside Intersect committees. While we are highly receptive to ecosystem contributions, requesting nearly 900k USD to duplicate or restructure ongoing work is inefficient. We would welcome collaboration on this workstream to improve cost efficiency.
3. Severe Execution Risk: The proposal requests funding for only six months. The proposer indicates that the engineering team for these workstreams has not yet been established and will be hired using the funds released from this withdrawal. Setting up a new team and familiarizing them with the necessary ecosystem intricacies will conservatively consume a significant portion of this short timeframe, jeopardizing the delivery schedule. A future proposal would be significantly strengthened by establishing an upfront execution structure. Clearly identifying, aligning, and sharing ownership with ecosystem partners from the outset ensures precise accountability for all deliverables.
4. Lack of Long-Term Ownership and Maintenance: There is no clear transition strategy for the resulting products (such as cardano-init or the contracts library) after the initial six-month funding period. The ecosystem requires continuous, ongoing feedback and maintenance for developer tools, rather than a highly expensive, short-term sprint that risks leaving behind abandoned infrastructure if subsequent funding is not secured.
5. Open Source Fragmentation: While cardano-init is explicitly designed as an aggregation layer to unify and elevate existing ecosystem tools rather than replace them, its long-term value hinges heavily on sustained community buy-in. The proposal’s strategy for allocating bounties and incentives to existing tool maintainers is a strong step toward coordination. However, the primary risk shifts from community fragmentation to the execution of integrations: we must ensure that external toolmakers actively maintain these integrations over time so the aggregator remains a reliable, up-to-date entry point for new developers.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation votes NO. While the ambition to improve Cardano's developer experience is valued, this proposal's steep cost, execution risks, and overlapping scope prevent us from approving it in its current form. To secure approval, a resubmission must be leaner, more cost-effective and provide a granular FTE budget breakdown for financial transparency. It should also integrate with active Cardano Foundation and Intersect initiatives to avoid duplicating ongoing work, establish an execution structure with a pre-identified team to ensure delivery within the tight six-month window, and outline a strategy for long-term maintenance and community buy-in.

98. IO - Cardano Upgrades

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. CIP-159, CPS-23, and Native Babel Fees have potential to improve L2 reserves, protect against volatility, and improve onboarding. Despite certain budget and execution concerns, we view the 13.1M ada ask as an acceptable investment.

Rationale Statement

We recognize the impact these three platform-level capabilities will have on Cardano’s economic models and ecosystem growth. We are voting YES based on the following technical and strategic assessments:

1. Critical Infrastructure and Economic Resilience: The CIP-159 (Account Address Enhancements) upgrade bridges the gap between UTXO and Account models. By solving the minUTxO constraints, it enables micro-fee collection, cheaper DeFi batcher operations, and introduces new smart contract paradigms more familiar to EVM developers. Furthermore, it is a prerequisite for seamless L2 reserve management. CPS-23 (Multi-Asset Treasury) enables the Cardano Treasury to hold stablecoins or other native assets, which is a next step for long-term sustainability. It could protect the ecosystem's funding runway from ADA price volatility and introduce the potential for diverse treasury holdings.
2. Native Babel Fees and Onboarding: While non-native (smart contract-based) Babel fees currently exist within the ecosystem, they have struggled to gain significant traction. Allowing users to interact with Cardano DApps using stablecoins or bridged assets without first acquiring ADA will hopefully be a driver for mainstream institutional and retail adoption.

3. Feedback for Ongoing Alignment: While we support funding this initiative, there are elements of this proposal which raised concerns and we wish to offer feedback.

Implementing CIP-159 fundamentally alters Cardano's accounting model. With alternative nodes like Amaru and Dingo actively in development, introducing such massive ledger changes requires careful coordination. Making frequent, significant modifications directly onto the Layer 1 core ledger introduces substantial maintenance fatigue for open-source builders, which can be lessened with coordination. We urge IO to collaborate to establish a clear framework for alignment with other node implementation and material downstream tooling teams to prevent consensus fragmentation.

Workstream 2 allocates roughly $565,000 USD primarily to design and draft the Multi-Asset Treasury CIP. For a design-phase deliverable, this is a premium investment. We expect this effort to feature rigorous, high-quality deliverables, contributions to improvements to the overall CIP process and extensive community consultation to reflect the amount.

Workstream 3 includes integration with the Lace wallet. Given the use of treasury funds, we expect the IO team to ensure that the underlying infrastructure for Native Babel Fees is open and easily accessible for all ecosystem wallets, Tx builders (e.g., Mesh, Lucid Evolution), and indexers, rather than focusing support solely on its own products.

Although these concerns are valid, we appreciate the dialogue with IOG on this proposal which contributed to this voting decision.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. The combination of Account Enhancements, a Multi-Asset Treasury, and Native Babel Fees represents a step forward for Cardano's scalability, developer experience, and economic sustainability.

99. IO - Consensus Initiative

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. Leios is important for scaling Cardano and long-term competitiveness. Despite concerns over budget opacity and prior funding overlaps, delaying this upgrade risks ecosystem stagnation. We approve to ensure development continuity.

Rationale Statement

We recognize the impact that the Consensus Initiative (Leios) will have on the network’s capacity. We are voting YES based on the following technical and strategic assessments:

1. Essential Base Layer Scaling: Scaling through Leios is fundamentally positive and provides Cardano with a massive upgrade. To ensure Cardano remains competitive with newer Layer 1 blockchains in terms of throughput, upgrading the base protocol is non-negotiable. This prevents the network from adopting unsustainable design patterns, such as forcing all high-volume activity to Layer 2 solutions.
2. Core Infrastructure Investment: This proposal is a direct investment in the core protocol infrastructure. The Leios research phase has produced solid, academic-level work fully in the spirit of a peer-reviewed blockchain.
3. Development Continuity: Leios development requires highly specialized knowledge. Voting NO at this critical juncture would risk halting momentum, meaning expert engineering teams would need to be replaced or re-assembled at a later date. Approving this proposal ensures the unbroken continuation of the roadmap toward the Dijkstra era.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. We recognize that Leios is a credible path available to meet Cardano's 2030 scaling ambitions. While we have significant concerns regarding the insufficiently detailed, escalating budget, the risk of derailing base-layer scaling is too significant.

100. IO & Ensurable Systems - Cardano Maintenance Initiative

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes ABSTAIN. We appreciate the dialogue with IOG on this proposal, which contributed to our voting decision. While continuous maintenance is important for long-term network stability, this 62.1M ada proposal presents fiscal uncertainty and the scope appears to duplicate funding of other concurrent initiatives.

Rationale Statement

While the critical importance of keeping the network operating securely is undisputed, our evaluation reflects several material concerns regarding the current formulation of the proposal:

1. Lack of Budget Detail/Potential Duplications: This proposal bundles nine maintenance workstreams into a single budget, grouping 74% (46M ada) of the funds into a broad "Development" category, which, without a granular Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) headcount breakdown, limits the capacity to verify cost efficiency. Additionally, given that the same development teams contribute across multiple initiatives, there appears to be a funding overlap with resources already requested in the Upgrades, Plutus, Consensus, and Developer Experience proposals. Providing a more detailed budget breakdown would help the community in conducting a clear cost-benefit analysis and ensure there is no duplication of funding.
2. Lack of Quantifiable Deliverables: The proposal functions structurally as an open-ended funding commitment lacking defined technical boundaries, presenting a deficit of tangible deliverables, milestones, or open-source repository evidence mapping out the work. Without clear engineering baselines, it acts as an unquantifiable blanket retainer that challenges our ability to properly assess the proposal.
3. Substantial Budget Inflation: The requested amount of 62.1M ada (approximately 14.9M USD) represents a high allocation of treasury resources. Industry baselines indicate that these costs are significantly inflated relative to the actual operational overhead required for equivalent DevOps and core maintenance tasks.
4. Structural Preference for Targeted Initiatives: The Cardano Foundation maintains a clear structural preference for a modular funding framework wherever possible. Funding generalized blanket proposals introduces fiscal uncertainty, whereas smaller, targeted sub-proposals (such as specific consensus, developer experience, or scaling layer initiatives) feature transparent line-item budgets and clearly defined milestones that allow for rigorous milestone-based verification.
5. Node Diversity Risks: To support a healthy multi-client ecosystem, overarching services such as global network monitoring and core documentation (e.g., the Cardano Blueprint) should be gradually decoupled from node-specific maintenance to ensure a completely product-agnostic and inclusive infrastructure landscape.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation votes ABSTAIN. We appreciate the critical nature of network maintenance and the expertise of the proposing teams. However, we require greater financial transparency, and a more node-agnostic approach to ecosystem tooling in order to properly assess this proposal. If this proposal does not reach the required approval threshold, we ask the proposers to refine and resubmit. A resubmission would greatly benefit from a decoupled structure, detailed FTE allocations, and an independent oversight mechanism to ensure verifiable and neutral delivery.

101. IO & Midgard Labs - L2 Scalability Initiative

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes ABSTAIN. While Layer 2 scaling is important for enterprise DApps, the proposal's lack of budget granularity, contested IP, and unresolved 2025 milestones introduce uncertainty. While we do not oppose this proposal, we urge a refined resubmission if it does not pass.

Rationale Statement

We support the technological objectives and the necessity of Layer 2 scaling, however we require further clarity regarding the following uncertainties before we are able to support:

1. Unclear Scope and Structural Bundling: The proposal bundles two Layer 2 technologies at different stages of their respective product lifecycles into a single governance action. Furthermore, the financial distribution is skewed; despite being a titular focus of the initiative, the Midgard workstream receives only 9% of the allocated funding, while Hydra consumes approximately 73%.
2. Milestone Accountability and Prior Deliverables: Midgard's 2025 funded milestones under contract EC-0001-25 were previously reported as past due and paused. While new evidence was submitted on May 19 to claim milestones 2–5, these submissions remain pending final verification. Committing additional treasury resources without a fully finalized reconciliation of past deliverables introduces significant fiscal uncertainty.
3. Budget Granularity and Potential Overlaps: The 10.4M ada request lacks a granular breakdown. The technical scope for Workstream 2 (Hydra) closely mirrors the team's existing public roadmap and open pull requests, making it difficult to isolate net-new work from previously funded core engineering efforts. Additionally, the 1.8M ada requested for a bespoke Data Availability (DA) prototype does not sufficiently clarify why existing modular alternatives are unsuitable.
4. Technical, IP, and Organizational Risks: The proposal contains contradictory timelines regarding the Midgard mainnet launch (end of 2026 versus Q1 2027). Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) also noted unresolved authorship and payment disputes (e.g., PR #434) that introduce contested-IP risks. Finally, the legal distinction and relationship between "Midgard Labs" and Anastasia Labs require clarification to ensure accountability.
5. Unsubstantiated Metrics and Commercial Dependencies: Performance claims such as "10,000+ TPS" are presented without concrete benchmarking data or baseline metrics. Furthermore, the proposal relies heavily on specific commercial partners (like Delta DeFi and Masumi) continuing to build, without providing contingency plans. Ideally, commercial entities utilizing the stack for enterprise applications should contribute to the hardening of the infrastructure they rely upon.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation votes ABSTAIN. We appreciate the dialogue with IOG on this proposal which contributed to our voting decision. We value the technical ambition of this initiative and respect the engineering teams involved, but we cannot support this proposal in its current state without proper budget breakdowns, clarity on IP, and clear accountability for past milestones. If this proposal does not reach the required approval threshold, we ask the proposers to refine and resubmit their initiative.

102. IO - Cardano High Assurance Technical Collaboration

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. Automating formal verification is a strategic public good that reinforces network security. Despite significant concerns regarding budget opacity and adoption risks, the ecosystem benefits outweigh the reservations.

Rationale Statement

We support this proposal because it aligns with Cardano's core value proposition of security, correctness, and determinism. Our YES vote is grounded in the following primary drivers:

1. Strategic Digital Trust Infrastructure: Cardano’s underlying smart contract model, based on Lambda calculus and determinism, is uniquely positioned for formal mathematical verification. Recent high-profile vulnerabilities in EVM-based DeFi protocols, such as the ~$300M Kelp DAO exploit, highlight that verifiable security is a strict prerequisite for institutional adoption. This enables a shift away from high-risk environments toward highly secure, institutional-grade DeFi applications.
2. Universal Ecosystem Support via UPLC: The proposed automated verification tool, Blaster, operates directly on Untyped Plutus Core (UPLC). This architectural choice is strategic, as it avoids siloed development and simultaneously supports developers across the ecosystem, regardless of whether they write in Aiken, Plutus, or other high-level smart contract languages.
3. Lowering the Barrier to Entry: Historically, formal verification has been restricted to specialized experts. By providing a Lean4-based verification enabler, integrating it directly into native toolchains (e.g., VS Code), and offering extended "one-click" containerized developer environments, this initiative significantly democratizes access to production-ready, secure smart contract development.
4. AI-Agentic Workflow Readiness: As software engineering transitions toward AI-assisted development, the emphasis on robust Command Line Interfaces (CLIs) within this proposal provides a strong, secure foundation for future integration with autonomous AI agents, ensuring Cardano's toolchain remains forward-looking.
5. Reusable and Auditable Components: The initiative focuses on d

This document includes the Cardano Foundation’s voting decisions and individual voting rationales for nine Treasury Withdrawal governance actions submitted by Input Output Global.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

We have decided to create a unified document to record our votes as many of the initiatives are connected.

We invite the proposers and anyone else from the Cardano Community to carefully review our individual rationales below per proposal, as well as the following table.

Governance Action Title	CF DRep Vote
97. IO - Developer Experience Initiative	NO
98. IO - Cardano Upgrades	YES
99. IO - Consensus Initiative	YES
100. IO & Ensurable Systems - Cardano Maintenance Initiative	ABSTAIN
101. IO & Midgard Labs - L2 Scalability Initiative	ABSTAIN
102. IO - Cardano High Assurance Technical Collaboration	YES
103. IO & VacuumLabs - Enhancing Plutus - Performance, Correctness, and Usability	NO
104. Blockfrost - Maintenance and Next Generation Indexing	NO
105. Pogun - Capital Without Compromise	YES

Individual Rationales

The following section contains all nine individual voting rationales for the above-mentioned proposals.

97. IO - Developer Experience Initiative

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes NO. We are eager to collaborate on DevX, but this proposal is expensive, lacks financial granularity, and risks duplicating ecosystem efforts. We encourage returning with a leaner, more detailed, and coordinated resubmission addressing the points as recommended below.

Rationale Statement

We recognize that developer onboarding is a critical vertical, and we appreciate the proposers targeting legitimate ecosystem pain points. While we fully support the overarching goals, we cannot approve this treasury withdrawal in its current form due to the following structural and financial concerns:

1. Costs Lacking Granularity: The request for approximately 900k USD is exceptionally high for a 6-month timeframe. The budget lacks a meaningful Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) breakdown, allocating 81% to a broadly categorized "Development & Engineering" bucket. This makes it difficult to distinguish between community bounties, hackathon prizes, and administrative overhead, hindering our ability to evaluate financial proportionality.Creating CLI tooling, cleaning documentation, and building contract templates can be achieved in a cost-effective way which does not require a budget of this size.
2. Overlap with Active CF and Intersect Initiatives: The proposal intends to restructure the "Developer HUB" using the Developer Portal as its primary entry point. The Developer Portal is already actively maintained, funded, and strategized by the Cardano Foundation alongside Intersect committees. While we are highly receptive to ecosystem contributions, requesting nearly 900k USD to duplicate or restructure ongoing work is inefficient. We would welcome collaboration on this workstream to improve cost efficiency.
3. Severe Execution Risk: The proposal requests funding for only six months. The proposer indicates that the engineering team for these workstreams has not yet been established and will be hired using the funds released from this withdrawal. Setting up a new team and familiarizing them with the necessary ecosystem intricacies will conservatively consume a significant portion of this short timeframe, jeopardizing the delivery schedule. A future proposal would be significantly strengthened by establishing an upfront execution structure. Clearly identifying, aligning, and sharing ownership with ecosystem partners from the outset ensures precise accountability for all deliverables.
4. Lack of Long-Term Ownership and Maintenance: There is no clear transition strategy for the resulting products (such as cardano-init or the contracts library) after the initial six-month funding period. The ecosystem requires continuous, ongoing feedback and maintenance for developer tools, rather than a highly expensive, short-term sprint that risks leaving behind abandoned infrastructure if subsequent funding is not secured.
5. Open Source Fragmentation: While cardano-init is explicitly designed as an aggregation layer to unify and elevate existing ecosystem tools rather than replace them, its long-term value hinges heavily on sustained community buy-in. The proposal’s strategy for allocating bounties and incentives to existing tool maintainers is a strong step toward coordination. However, the primary risk shifts from community fragmentation to the execution of integrations: we must ensure that external toolmakers actively maintain these integrations over time so the aggregator remains a reliable, up-to-date entry point for new developers.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation votes NO. While the ambition to improve Cardano's developer experience is valued, this proposal's steep cost, execution risks, and overlapping scope prevent us from approving it in its current form. To secure approval, a resubmission must be leaner, more cost-effective and provide a granular FTE budget breakdown for financial transparency. It should also integrate with active Cardano Foundation and Intersect initiatives to avoid duplicating ongoing work, establish an execution structure with a pre-identified team to ensure delivery within the tight six-month window, and outline a strategy for long-term maintenance and community buy-in.

98. IO - Cardano Upgrades

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. CIP-159, CPS-23, and Native Babel Fees have potential to improve L2 reserves, protect against volatility, and improve onboarding. Despite certain budget and execution concerns, we view the 13.1M ada ask as an acceptable investment.

Rationale Statement

We recognize the impact these three platform-level capabilities will have on Cardano’s economic models and ecosystem growth. We are voting YES based on the following technical and strategic assessments:

1. Critical Infrastructure and Economic Resilience: The CIP-159 (Account Address Enhancements) upgrade bridges the gap between UTXO and Account models. By solving the minUTxO constraints, it enables micro-fee collection, cheaper DeFi batcher operations, and introduces new smart contract paradigms more familiar to EVM developers. Furthermore, it is a prerequisite for seamless L2 reserve management. CPS-23 (Multi-Asset Treasury) enables the Cardano Treasury to hold stablecoins or other native assets, which is a next step for long-term sustainability. It could protect the ecosystem's funding runway from ADA price volatility and introduce the potential for diverse treasury holdings.
2. Native Babel Fees and Onboarding: While non-native (smart contract-based) Babel fees currently exist within the ecosystem, they have struggled to gain significant traction. Allowing users to interact with Cardano DApps using stablecoins or bridged assets without first acquiring ADA will hopefully be a driver for mainstream institutional and retail adoption.

3. Feedback for Ongoing Alignment: While we support funding this initiative, there are elements of this proposal which raised concerns and we wish to offer feedback.

Implementing CIP-159 fundamentally alters Cardano's accounting model. With alternative nodes like Amaru and Dingo actively in development, introducing such massive ledger changes requires careful coordination. Making frequent, significant modifications directly onto the Layer 1 core ledger introduces substantial maintenance fatigue for open-source builders, which can be lessened with coordination. We urge IO to collaborate to establish a clear framework for alignment with other node implementation and material downstream tooling teams to prevent consensus fragmentation.

Workstream 2 allocates roughly $565,000 USD primarily to design and draft the Multi-Asset Treasury CIP. For a design-phase deliverable, this is a premium investment. We expect this effort to feature rigorous, high-quality deliverables, contributions to improvements to the overall CIP process and extensive community consultation to reflect the amount.

Workstream 3 includes integration with the Lace wallet. Given the use of treasury funds, we expect the IO team to ensure that the underlying infrastructure for Native Babel Fees is open and easily accessible for all ecosystem wallets, Tx builders (e.g., Mesh, Lucid Evolution), and indexers, rather than focusing support solely on its own products.

Although these concerns are valid, we appreciate the dialogue with IOG on this proposal which contributed to this voting decision.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. The combination of Account Enhancements, a Multi-Asset Treasury, and Native Babel Fees represents a step forward for Cardano's scalability, developer experience, and economic sustainability.

99. IO - Consensus Initiative

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. Leios is important for scaling Cardano and long-term competitiveness. Despite concerns over budget opacity and prior funding overlaps, delaying this upgrade risks ecosystem stagnation. We approve to ensure development continuity.

Rationale Statement

We recognize the impact that the Consensus Initiative (Leios) will have on the network’s capacity. We are voting YES based on the following technical and strategic assessments:

1. Essential Base Layer Scaling: Scaling through Leios is fundamentally positive and provides Cardano with a massive upgrade. To ensure Cardano remains competitive with newer Layer 1 blockchains in terms of throughput, upgrading the base protocol is non-negotiable. This prevents the network from adopting unsustainable design patterns, such as forcing all high-volume activity to Layer 2 solutions.
2. Core Infrastructure Investment: This proposal is a direct investment in the core protocol infrastructure. The Leios research phase has produced solid, academic-level work fully in the spirit of a peer-reviewed blockchain.
3. Development Continuity: Leios development requires highly specialized knowledge. Voting NO at this critical juncture would risk halting momentum, meaning expert engineering teams would need to be replaced or re-assembled at a later date. Approving this proposal ensures the unbroken continuation of the roadmap toward the Dijkstra era.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. We recognize that Leios is a credible path available to meet Cardano's 2030 scaling ambitions. While we have significant concerns regarding the insufficiently detailed, escalating budget, the risk of derailing base-layer scaling is too significant.

100. IO & Ensurable Systems - Cardano Maintenance Initiative

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes ABSTAIN. We appreciate the dialogue with IOG on this proposal, which contributed to our voting decision. While continuous maintenance is important for long-term network stability, this 62.1M ada proposal presents fiscal uncertainty and the scope appears to duplicate funding of other concurrent initiatives.

Rationale Statement

While the critical importance of keeping the network operating securely is undisputed, our evaluation reflects several material concerns regarding the current formulation of the proposal:

1. Lack of Budget Detail/Potential Duplications: This proposal bundles nine maintenance workstreams into a single budget, grouping 74% (46M ada) of the funds into a broad "Development" category, which, without a granular Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) headcount breakdown, limits the capacity to verify cost efficiency. Additionally, given that the same development teams contribute across multiple initiatives, there appears to be a funding overlap with resources already requested in the Upgrades, Plutus, Consensus, and Developer Experience proposals. Providing a more detailed budget breakdown would help the community in conducting a clear cost-benefit analysis and ensure there is no duplication of funding.
2. Lack of Quantifiable Deliverables: The proposal functions structurally as an open-ended funding commitment lacking defined technical boundaries, presenting a deficit of tangible deliverables, milestones, or open-source repository evidence mapping out the work. Without clear engineering baselines, it acts as an unquantifiable blanket retainer that challenges our ability to properly assess the proposal.
3. Substantial Budget Inflation: The requested amount of 62.1M ada (approximately 14.9M USD) represents a high allocation of treasury resources. Industry baselines indicate that these costs are significantly inflated relative to the actual operational overhead required for equivalent DevOps and core maintenance tasks.
4. Structural Preference for Targeted Initiatives: The Cardano Foundation maintains a clear structural preference for a modular funding framework wherever possible. Funding generalized blanket proposals introduces fiscal uncertainty, whereas smaller, targeted sub-proposals (such as specific consensus, developer experience, or scaling layer initiatives) feature transparent line-item budgets and clearly defined milestones that allow for rigorous milestone-based verification.
5. Node Diversity Risks: To support a healthy multi-client ecosystem, overarching services such as global network monitoring and core documentation (e.g., the Cardano Blueprint) should be gradually decoupled from node-specific maintenance to ensure a completely product-agnostic and inclusive infrastructure landscape.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation votes ABSTAIN. We appreciate the critical nature of network maintenance and the expertise of the proposing teams. However, we require greater financial transparency, and a more node-agnostic approach to ecosystem tooling in order to properly assess this proposal. If this proposal does not reach the required approval threshold, we ask the proposers to refine and resubmit. A resubmission would greatly benefit from a decoupled structure, detailed FTE allocations, and an independent oversight mechanism to ensure verifiable and neutral delivery.

101. IO & Midgard Labs - L2 Scalability Initiative

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes ABSTAIN. While Layer 2 scaling is important for enterprise DApps, the proposal's lack of budget granularity, contested IP, and unresolved 2025 milestones introduce uncertainty. While we do not oppose this proposal, we urge a refined resubmission if it does not pass.

Rationale Statement

We support the technological objectives and the necessity of Layer 2 scaling, however we require further clarity regarding the following uncertainties before we are able to support:

1. Unclear Scope and Structural Bundling: The proposal bundles two Layer 2 technologies at different stages of their respective product lifecycles into a single governance action. Furthermore, the financial distribution is skewed; despite being a titular focus of the initiative, the Midgard workstream receives only 9% of the allocated funding, while Hydra consumes approximately 73%.
2. Milestone Accountability and Prior Deliverables: Midgard's 2025 funded milestones under contract EC-0001-25 were previously reported as past due and paused. While new evidence was submitted on May 19 to claim milestones 2–5, these submissions remain pending final verification. Committing additional treasury resources without a fully finalized reconciliation of past deliverables introduces significant fiscal uncertainty.
3. Budget Granularity and Potential Overlaps: The 10.4M ada request lacks a granular breakdown. The technical scope for Workstream 2 (Hydra) closely mirrors the team's existing public roadmap and open pull requests, making it difficult to isolate net-new work from previously funded core engineering efforts. Additionally, the 1.8M ada requested for a bespoke Data Availability (DA) prototype does not sufficiently clarify why existing modular alternatives are unsuitable.
4. Technical, IP, and Organizational Risks: The proposal contains contradictory timelines regarding the Midgard mainnet launch (end of 2026 versus Q1 2027). Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) also noted unresolved authorship and payment disputes (e.g., PR #434) that introduce contested-IP risks. Finally, the legal distinction and relationship between "Midgard Labs" and Anastasia Labs require clarification to ensure accountability.
5. Unsubstantiated Metrics and Commercial Dependencies: Performance claims such as "10,000+ TPS" are presented without concrete benchmarking data or baseline metrics. Furthermore, the proposal relies heavily on specific commercial partners (like Delta DeFi and Masumi) continuing to build, without providing contingency plans. Ideally, commercial entities utilizing the stack for enterprise applications should contribute to the hardening of the infrastructure they rely upon.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation votes ABSTAIN. We appreciate the dialogue with IOG on this proposal which contributed to our voting decision. We value the technical ambition of this initiative and respect the engineering teams involved, but we cannot support this proposal in its current state without proper budget breakdowns, clarity on IP, and clear accountability for past milestones. If this proposal does not reach the required approval threshold, we ask the proposers to refine and resubmit their initiative.

102. IO - Cardano High Assurance Technical Collaboration

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. Automating formal verification is a strategic public good that reinforces network security. Despite significant concerns regarding budget opacity and adoption risks, the ecosystem benefits outweigh the reservations.

Rationale Statement

We support this proposal because it aligns with Cardano's core value proposition of security, correctness, and determinism. Our YES vote is grounded in the following primary drivers:

1. Strategic Digital Trust Infrastructure: Cardano’s underlying smart contract model, based on Lambda calculus and determinism, is uniquely positioned for formal mathematical verification. Recent high-profile vulnerabilities in EVM-based DeFi protocols, such as the ~$300M Kelp DAO exploit, highlight that verifiable security is a strict prerequisite for institutional adoption. This enables a shift away from high-risk environments toward highly secure, institutional-grade DeFi applications.
2. Universal Ecosystem Support via UPLC: The proposed automated verification tool, Blaster, operates directly on Untyped Plutus Core (UPLC). This architectural choice is strategic, as it avoids siloed development and simultaneously supports developers across the ecosystem, regardless of whether they write in Aiken, Plutus, or other high-level smart contract languages.
3. Lowering the Barrier to Entry: Historically, formal verification has been restricted to specialized experts. By providing a Lean4-based verification enabler, integrating it directly into native toolchains (e.g., VS Code), and offering extended "one-click" containerized developer environments, this initiative significantly democratizes access to production-ready, secure smart contract development.
4. AI-Agentic Workflow Readiness: As software engineering transitions toward AI-assisted development, the emphasis on robust Command Line Interfaces (CLIs) within this proposal provides a strong, secure foundation for future integration with autonomous AI agents, ensuring Cardano's toolchain remains forward-looking.
5. Reusable and Auditable Components: The initiative focuses on d

This document includes the Cardano Foundation’s voting decisions and individual voting rationales for nine Treasury Withdrawal governance actions submitted by Input Output Global.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

We have decided to create a unified document to record our votes as many of the initiatives are connected.

We invite the proposers and anyone else from the Cardano Community to carefully review our individual rationales below per proposal, as well as the following table.

Governance Action Title	CF DRep Vote
97. IO - Developer Experience Initiative	NO
98. IO - Cardano Upgrades	YES
99. IO - Consensus Initiative	YES
100. IO & Ensurable Systems - Cardano Maintenance Initiative	ABSTAIN
101. IO & Midgard Labs - L2 Scalability Initiative	ABSTAIN
102. IO - Cardano High Assurance Technical Collaboration	YES
103. IO & VacuumLabs - Enhancing Plutus - Performance, Correctness, and Usability	NO
104. Blockfrost - Maintenance and Next Generation Indexing	NO
105. Pogun - Capital Without Compromise	YES

Individual Rationales

The following section contains all nine individual voting rationales for the above-mentioned proposals.

97. IO - Developer Experience Initiative

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes NO. We are eager to collaborate on DevX, but this proposal is expensive, lacks financial granularity, and risks duplicating ecosystem efforts. We encourage returning with a leaner, more detailed, and coordinated resubmission addressing the points as recommended below.

Rationale Statement

We recognize that developer onboarding is a critical vertical, and we appreciate the proposers targeting legitimate ecosystem pain points. While we fully support the overarching goals, we cannot approve this treasury withdrawal in its current form due to the following structural and financial concerns:

1. Costs Lacking Granularity: The request for approximately 900k USD is exceptionally high for a 6-month timeframe. The budget lacks a meaningful Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) breakdown, allocating 81% to a broadly categorized "Development & Engineering" bucket. This makes it difficult to distinguish between community bounties, hackathon prizes, and administrative overhead, hindering our ability to evaluate financial proportionality.Creating CLI tooling, cleaning documentation, and building contract templates can be achieved in a cost-effective way which does not require a budget of this size.
2. Overlap with Active CF and Intersect Initiatives: The proposal intends to restructure the "Developer HUB" using the Developer Portal as its primary entry point. The Developer Portal is already actively maintained, funded, and strategized by the Cardano Foundation alongside Intersect committees. While we are highly receptive to ecosystem contributions, requesting nearly 900k USD to duplicate or restructure ongoing work is inefficient. We would welcome collaboration on this workstream to improve cost efficiency.
3. Severe Execution Risk: The proposal requests funding for only six months. The proposer indicates that the engineering team for these workstreams has not yet been established and will be hired using the funds released from this withdrawal. Setting up a new team and familiarizing them with the necessary ecosystem intricacies will conservatively consume a significant portion of this short timeframe, jeopardizing the delivery schedule. A future proposal would be significantly strengthened by establishing an upfront execution structure. Clearly identifying, aligning, and sharing ownership with ecosystem partners from the outset ensures precise accountability for all deliverables.
4. Lack of Long-Term Ownership and Maintenance: There is no clear transition strategy for the resulting products (such as cardano-init or the contracts library) after the initial six-month funding period. The ecosystem requires continuous, ongoing feedback and maintenance for developer tools, rather than a highly expensive, short-term sprint that risks leaving behind abandoned infrastructure if subsequent funding is not secured.
5. Open Source Fragmentation: While cardano-init is explicitly designed as an aggregation layer to unify and elevate existing ecosystem tools rather than replace them, its long-term value hinges heavily on sustained community buy-in. The proposal’s strategy for allocating bounties and incentives to existing tool maintainers is a strong step toward coordination. However, the primary risk shifts from community fragmentation to the execution of integrations: we must ensure that external toolmakers actively maintain these integrations over time so the aggregator remains a reliable, up-to-date entry point for new developers.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation votes NO. While the ambition to improve Cardano's developer experience is valued, this proposal's steep cost, execution risks, and overlapping scope prevent us from approving it in its current form. To secure approval, a resubmission must be leaner, more cost-effective and provide a granular FTE budget breakdown for financial transparency. It should also integrate with active Cardano Foundation and Intersect initiatives to avoid duplicating ongoing work, establish an execution structure with a pre-identified team to ensure delivery within the tight six-month window, and outline a strategy for long-term maintenance and community buy-in.

98. IO - Cardano Upgrades

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. CIP-159, CPS-23, and Native Babel Fees have potential to improve L2 reserves, protect against volatility, and improve onboarding. Despite certain budget and execution concerns, we view the 13.1M ada ask as an acceptable investment.

Rationale Statement

We recognize the impact these three platform-level capabilities will have on Cardano’s economic models and ecosystem growth. We are voting YES based on the following technical and strategic assessments:

1. Critical Infrastructure and Economic Resilience: The CIP-159 (Account Address Enhancements) upgrade bridges the gap between UTXO and Account models. By solving the minUTxO constraints, it enables micro-fee collection, cheaper DeFi batcher operations, and introduces new smart contract paradigms more familiar to EVM developers. Furthermore, it is a prerequisite for seamless L2 reserve management. CPS-23 (Multi-Asset Treasury) enables the Cardano Treasury to hold stablecoins or other native assets, which is a next step for long-term sustainability. It could protect the ecosystem's funding runway from ADA price volatility and introduce the potential for diverse treasury holdings.
2. Native Babel Fees and Onboarding: While non-native (smart contract-based) Babel fees currently exist within the ecosystem, they have struggled to gain significant traction. Allowing users to interact with Cardano DApps using stablecoins or bridged assets without first acquiring ADA will hopefully be a driver for mainstream institutional and retail adoption.

3. Feedback for Ongoing Alignment: While we support funding this initiative, there are elements of this proposal which raised concerns and we wish to offer feedback.

Implementing CIP-159 fundamentally alters Cardano's accounting model. With alternative nodes like Amaru and Dingo actively in development, introducing such massive ledger changes requires careful coordination. Making frequent, significant modifications directly onto the Layer 1 core ledger introduces substantial maintenance fatigue for open-source builders, which can be lessened with coordination. We urge IO to collaborate to establish a clear framework for alignment with other node implementation and material downstream tooling teams to prevent consensus fragmentation.

Workstream 2 allocates roughly $565,000 USD primarily to design and draft the Multi-Asset Treasury CIP. For a design-phase deliverable, this is a premium investment. We expect this effort to feature rigorous, high-quality deliverables, contributions to improvements to the overall CIP process and extensive community consultation to reflect the amount.

Workstream 3 includes integration with the Lace wallet. Given the use of treasury funds, we expect the IO team to ensure that the underlying infrastructure for Native Babel Fees is open and easily accessible for all ecosystem wallets, Tx builders (e.g., Mesh, Lucid Evolution), and indexers, rather than focusing support solely on its own products.

Although these concerns are valid, we appreciate the dialogue with IOG on this proposal which contributed to this voting decision.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. The combination of Account Enhancements, a Multi-Asset Treasury, and Native Babel Fees represents a step forward for Cardano's scalability, developer experience, and economic sustainability.

99. IO - Consensus Initiative

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. Leios is important for scaling Cardano and long-term competitiveness. Despite concerns over budget opacity and prior funding overlaps, delaying this upgrade risks ecosystem stagnation. We approve to ensure development continuity.

Rationale Statement

We recognize the impact that the Consensus Initiative (Leios) will have on the network’s capacity. We are voting YES based on the following technical and strategic assessments:

1. Essential Base Layer Scaling: Scaling through Leios is fundamentally positive and provides Cardano with a massive upgrade. To ensure Cardano remains competitive with newer Layer 1 blockchains in terms of throughput, upgrading the base protocol is non-negotiable. This prevents the network from adopting unsustainable design patterns, such as forcing all high-volume activity to Layer 2 solutions.
2. Core Infrastructure Investment: This proposal is a direct investment in the core protocol infrastructure. The Leios research phase has produced solid, academic-level work fully in the spirit of a peer-reviewed blockchain.
3. Development Continuity: Leios development requires highly specialized knowledge. Voting NO at this critical juncture would risk halting momentum, meaning expert engineering teams would need to be replaced or re-assembled at a later date. Approving this proposal ensures the unbroken continuation of the roadmap toward the Dijkstra era.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. We recognize that Leios is a credible path available to meet Cardano's 2030 scaling ambitions. While we have significant concerns regarding the insufficiently detailed, escalating budget, the risk of derailing base-layer scaling is too significant.

100. IO & Ensurable Systems - Cardano Maintenance Initiative

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes ABSTAIN. We appreciate the dialogue with IOG on this proposal, which contributed to our voting decision. While continuous maintenance is important for long-term network stability, this 62.1M ada proposal presents fiscal uncertainty and the scope appears to duplicate funding of other concurrent initiatives.

Rationale Statement

While the critical importance of keeping the network operating securely is undisputed, our evaluation reflects several material concerns regarding the current formulation of the proposal:

1. Lack of Budget Detail/Potential Duplications: This proposal bundles nine maintenance workstreams into a single budget, grouping 74% (46M ada) of the funds into a broad "Development" category, which, without a granular Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) headcount breakdown, limits the capacity to verify cost efficiency. Additionally, given that the same development teams contribute across multiple initiatives, there appears to be a funding overlap with resources already requested in the Upgrades, Plutus, Consensus, and Developer Experience proposals. Providing a more detailed budget breakdown would help the community in conducting a clear cost-benefit analysis and ensure there is no duplication of funding.
2. Lack of Quantifiable Deliverables: The proposal functions structurally as an open-ended funding commitment lacking defined technical boundaries, presenting a deficit of tangible deliverables, milestones, or open-source repository evidence mapping out the work. Without clear engineering baselines, it acts as an unquantifiable blanket retainer that challenges our ability to properly assess the proposal.
3. Substantial Budget Inflation: The requested amount of 62.1M ada (approximately 14.9M USD) represents a high allocation of treasury resources. Industry baselines indicate that these costs are significantly inflated relative to the actual operational overhead required for equivalent DevOps and core maintenance tasks.
4. Structural Preference for Targeted Initiatives: The Cardano Foundation maintains a clear structural preference for a modular funding framework wherever possible. Funding generalized blanket proposals introduces fiscal uncertainty, whereas smaller, targeted sub-proposals (such as specific consensus, developer experience, or scaling layer initiatives) feature transparent line-item budgets and clearly defined milestones that allow for rigorous milestone-based verification.
5. Node Diversity Risks: To support a healthy multi-client ecosystem, overarching services such as global network monitoring and core documentation (e.g., the Cardano Blueprint) should be gradually decoupled from node-specific maintenance to ensure a completely product-agnostic and inclusive infrastructure landscape.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation votes ABSTAIN. We appreciate the critical nature of network maintenance and the expertise of the proposing teams. However, we require greater financial transparency, and a more node-agnostic approach to ecosystem tooling in order to properly assess this proposal. If this proposal does not reach the required approval threshold, we ask the proposers to refine and resubmit. A resubmission would greatly benefit from a decoupled structure, detailed FTE allocations, and an independent oversight mechanism to ensure verifiable and neutral delivery.

101. IO & Midgard Labs - L2 Scalability Initiative

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes ABSTAIN. While Layer 2 scaling is important for enterprise DApps, the proposal's lack of budget granularity, contested IP, and unresolved 2025 milestones introduce uncertainty. While we do not oppose this proposal, we urge a refined resubmission if it does not pass.

Rationale Statement

We support the technological objectives and the necessity of Layer 2 scaling, however we require further clarity regarding the following uncertainties before we are able to support:

1. Unclear Scope and Structural Bundling: The proposal bundles two Layer 2 technologies at different stages of their respective product lifecycles into a single governance action. Furthermore, the financial distribution is skewed; despite being a titular focus of the initiative, the Midgard workstream receives only 9% of the allocated funding, while Hydra consumes approximately 73%.
2. Milestone Accountability and Prior Deliverables: Midgard's 2025 funded milestones under contract EC-0001-25 were previously reported as past due and paused. While new evidence was submitted on May 19 to claim milestones 2–5, these submissions remain pending final verification. Committing additional treasury resources without a fully finalized reconciliation of past deliverables introduces significant fiscal uncertainty.
3. Budget Granularity and Potential Overlaps: The 10.4M ada request lacks a granular breakdown. The technical scope for Workstream 2 (Hydra) closely mirrors the team's existing public roadmap and open pull requests, making it difficult to isolate net-new work from previously funded core engineering efforts. Additionally, the 1.8M ada requested for a bespoke Data Availability (DA) prototype does not sufficiently clarify why existing modular alternatives are unsuitable.
4. Technical, IP, and Organizational Risks: The proposal contains contradictory timelines regarding the Midgard mainnet launch (end of 2026 versus Q1 2027). Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) also noted unresolved authorship and payment disputes (e.g., PR #434) that introduce contested-IP risks. Finally, the legal distinction and relationship between "Midgard Labs" and Anastasia Labs require clarification to ensure accountability.
5. Unsubstantiated Metrics and Commercial Dependencies: Performance claims such as "10,000+ TPS" are presented without concrete benchmarking data or baseline metrics. Furthermore, the proposal relies heavily on specific commercial partners (like Delta DeFi and Masumi) continuing to build, without providing contingency plans. Ideally, commercial entities utilizing the stack for enterprise applications should contribute to the hardening of the infrastructure they rely upon.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation votes ABSTAIN. We appreciate the dialogue with IOG on this proposal which contributed to our voting decision. We value the technical ambition of this initiative and respect the engineering teams involved, but we cannot support this proposal in its current state without proper budget breakdowns, clarity on IP, and clear accountability for past milestones. If this proposal does not reach the required approval threshold, we ask the proposers to refine and resubmit their initiative.

102. IO - Cardano High Assurance Technical Collaboration

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. Automating formal verification is a strategic public good that reinforces network security. Despite significant concerns regarding budget opacity and adoption risks, the ecosystem benefits outweigh the reservations.

Rationale Statement

We support this proposal because it aligns with Cardano's core value proposition of security, correctness, and determinism. Our YES vote is grounded in the following primary drivers:

1. Strategic Digital Trust Infrastructure: Cardano’s underlying smart contract model, based on Lambda calculus and determinism, is uniquely positioned for formal mathematical verification. Recent high-profile vulnerabilities in EVM-based DeFi protocols, such as the ~$300M Kelp DAO exploit, highlight that verifiable security is a strict prerequisite for institutional adoption. This enables a shift away from high-risk environments toward highly secure, institutional-grade DeFi applications.
2. Universal Ecosystem Support via UPLC: The proposed automated verification tool, Blaster, operates directly on Untyped Plutus Core (UPLC). This architectural choice is strategic, as it avoids siloed development and simultaneously supports developers across the ecosystem, regardless of whether they write in Aiken, Plutus, or other high-level smart contract languages.
3. Lowering the Barrier to Entry: Historically, formal verification has been restricted to specialized experts. By providing a Lean4-based verification enabler, integrating it directly into native toolchains (e.g., VS Code), and offering extended "one-click" containerized developer environments, this initiative significantly democratizes access to production-ready, secure smart contract development.
4. AI-Agentic Workflow Readiness: As software engineering transitions toward AI-assisted development, the emphasis on robust Command Line Interfaces (CLIs) within this proposal provides a strong, secure foundation for future integration with autonomous AI agents, ensuring Cardano's toolchain remains forward-looking.
5. Reusable and Auditable Components: The initiative focuses on d

This document includes the Cardano Foundation’s voting decisions and individual voting rationales for nine Treasury Withdrawal governance actions submitted by Input Output Global.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

We have decided to create a unified document to record our votes as many of the initiatives are connected.

We invite the proposers and anyone else from the Cardano Community to carefully review our individual rationales below per proposal, as well as the following table.

Governance Action Title	CF DRep Vote
97. IO - Developer Experience Initiative	NO
98. IO - Cardano Upgrades	YES
99. IO - Consensus Initiative	YES
100. IO & Ensurable Systems - Cardano Maintenance Initiative	ABSTAIN
101. IO & Midgard Labs - L2 Scalability Initiative	ABSTAIN
102. IO - Cardano High Assurance Technical Collaboration	YES
103. IO & VacuumLabs - Enhancing Plutus - Performance, Correctness, and Usability	NO
104. Blockfrost - Maintenance and Next Generation Indexing	NO
105. Pogun - Capital Without Compromise	YES

Individual Rationales

The following section contains all nine individual voting rationales for the above-mentioned proposals.

97. IO - Developer Experience Initiative

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes NO. We are eager to collaborate on DevX, but this proposal is expensive, lacks financial granularity, and risks duplicating ecosystem efforts. We encourage returning with a leaner, more detailed, and coordinated resubmission addressing the points as recommended below.

Rationale Statement

We recognize that developer onboarding is a critical vertical, and we appreciate the proposers targeting legitimate ecosystem pain points. While we fully support the overarching goals, we cannot approve this treasury withdrawal in its current form due to the following structural and financial concerns:

1. Costs Lacking Granularity: The request for approximately 900k USD is exceptionally high for a 6-month timeframe. The budget lacks a meaningful Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) breakdown, allocating 81% to a broadly categorized "Development & Engineering" bucket. This makes it difficult to distinguish between community bounties, hackathon prizes, and administrative overhead, hindering our ability to evaluate financial proportionality.Creating CLI tooling, cleaning documentation, and building contract templates can be achieved in a cost-effective way which does not require a budget of this size.
2. Overlap with Active CF and Intersect Initiatives: The proposal intends to restructure the "Developer HUB" using the Developer Portal as its primary entry point. The Developer Portal is already actively maintained, funded, and strategized by the Cardano Foundation alongside Intersect committees. While we are highly receptive to ecosystem contributions, requesting nearly 900k USD to duplicate or restructure ongoing work is inefficient. We would welcome collaboration on this workstream to improve cost efficiency.
3. Severe Execution Risk: The proposal requests funding for only six months. The proposer indicates that the engineering team for these workstreams has not yet been established and will be hired using the funds released from this withdrawal. Setting up a new team and familiarizing them with the necessary ecosystem intricacies will conservatively consume a significant portion of this short timeframe, jeopardizing the delivery schedule. A future proposal would be significantly strengthened by establishing an upfront execution structure. Clearly identifying, aligning, and sharing ownership with ecosystem partners from the outset ensures precise accountability for all deliverables.
4. Lack of Long-Term Ownership and Maintenance: There is no clear transition strategy for the resulting products (such as cardano-init or the contracts library) after the initial six-month funding period. The ecosystem requires continuous, ongoing feedback and maintenance for developer tools, rather than a highly expensive, short-term sprint that risks leaving behind abandoned infrastructure if subsequent funding is not secured.
5. Open Source Fragmentation: While cardano-init is explicitly designed as an aggregation layer to unify and elevate existing ecosystem tools rather than replace them, its long-term value hinges heavily on sustained community buy-in. The proposal’s strategy for allocating bounties and incentives to existing tool maintainers is a strong step toward coordination. However, the primary risk shifts from community fragmentation to the execution of integrations: we must ensure that external toolmakers actively maintain these integrations over time so the aggregator remains a reliable, up-to-date entry point for new developers.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation votes NO. While the ambition to improve Cardano's developer experience is valued, this proposal's steep cost, execution risks, and overlapping scope prevent us from approving it in its current form. To secure approval, a resubmission must be leaner, more cost-effective and provide a granular FTE budget breakdown for financial transparency. It should also integrate with active Cardano Foundation and Intersect initiatives to avoid duplicating ongoing work, establish an execution structure with a pre-identified team to ensure delivery within the tight six-month window, and outline a strategy for long-term maintenance and community buy-in.

98. IO - Cardano Upgrades

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. CIP-159, CPS-23, and Native Babel Fees have potential to improve L2 reserves, protect against volatility, and improve onboarding. Despite certain budget and execution concerns, we view the 13.1M ada ask as an acceptable investment.

Rationale Statement

We recognize the impact these three platform-level capabilities will have on Cardano’s economic models and ecosystem growth. We are voting YES based on the following technical and strategic assessments:

1. Critical Infrastructure and Economic Resilience: The CIP-159 (Account Address Enhancements) upgrade bridges the gap between UTXO and Account models. By solving the minUTxO constraints, it enables micro-fee collection, cheaper DeFi batcher operations, and introduces new smart contract paradigms more familiar to EVM developers. Furthermore, it is a prerequisite for seamless L2 reserve management. CPS-23 (Multi-Asset Treasury) enables the Cardano Treasury to hold stablecoins or other native assets, which is a next step for long-term sustainability. It could protect the ecosystem's funding runway from ADA price volatility and introduce the potential for diverse treasury holdings.
2. Native Babel Fees and Onboarding: While non-native (smart contract-based) Babel fees currently exist within the ecosystem, they have struggled to gain significant traction. Allowing users to interact with Cardano DApps using stablecoins or bridged assets without first acquiring ADA will hopefully be a driver for mainstream institutional and retail adoption.

3. Feedback for Ongoing Alignment: While we support funding this initiative, there are elements of this proposal which raised concerns and we wish to offer feedback.

Implementing CIP-159 fundamentally alters Cardano's accounting model. With alternative nodes like Amaru and Dingo actively in development, introducing such massive ledger changes requires careful coordination. Making frequent, significant modifications directly onto the Layer 1 core ledger introduces substantial maintenance fatigue for open-source builders, which can be lessened with coordination. We urge IO to collaborate to establish a clear framework for alignment with other node implementation and material downstream tooling teams to prevent consensus fragmentation.

Workstream 2 allocates roughly $565,000 USD primarily to design and draft the Multi-Asset Treasury CIP. For a design-phase deliverable, this is a premium investment. We expect this effort to feature rigorous, high-quality deliverables, contributions to improvements to the overall CIP process and extensive community consultation to reflect the amount.

Workstream 3 includes integration with the Lace wallet. Given the use of treasury funds, we expect the IO team to ensure that the underlying infrastructure for Native Babel Fees is open and easily accessible for all ecosystem wallets, Tx builders (e.g., Mesh, Lucid Evolution), and indexers, rather than focusing support solely on its own products.

Although these concerns are valid, we appreciate the dialogue with IOG on this proposal which contributed to this voting decision.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. The combination of Account Enhancements, a Multi-Asset Treasury, and Native Babel Fees represents a step forward for Cardano's scalability, developer experience, and economic sustainability.

99. IO - Consensus Initiative

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. Leios is important for scaling Cardano and long-term competitiveness. Despite concerns over budget opacity and prior funding overlaps, delaying this upgrade risks ecosystem stagnation. We approve to ensure development continuity.

Rationale Statement

We recognize the impact that the Consensus Initiative (Leios) will have on the network’s capacity. We are voting YES based on the following technical and strategic assessments:

1. Essential Base Layer Scaling: Scaling through Leios is fundamentally positive and provides Cardano with a massive upgrade. To ensure Cardano remains competitive with newer Layer 1 blockchains in terms of throughput, upgrading the base protocol is non-negotiable. This prevents the network from adopting unsustainable design patterns, such as forcing all high-volume activity to Layer 2 solutions.
2. Core Infrastructure Investment: This proposal is a direct investment in the core protocol infrastructure. The Leios research phase has produced solid, academic-level work fully in the spirit of a peer-reviewed blockchain.
3. Development Continuity: Leios development requires highly specialized knowledge. Voting NO at this critical juncture would risk halting momentum, meaning expert engineering teams would need to be replaced or re-assembled at a later date. Approving this proposal ensures the unbroken continuation of the roadmap toward the Dijkstra era.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. We recognize that Leios is a credible path available to meet Cardano's 2030 scaling ambitions. While we have significant concerns regarding the insufficiently detailed, escalating budget, the risk of derailing base-layer scaling is too significant.

100. IO & Ensurable Systems - Cardano Maintenance Initiative

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes ABSTAIN. We appreciate the dialogue with IOG on this proposal, which contributed to our voting decision. While continuous maintenance is important for long-term network stability, this 62.1M ada proposal presents fiscal uncertainty and the scope appears to duplicate funding of other concurrent initiatives.

Rationale Statement

While the critical importance of keeping the network operating securely is undisputed, our evaluation reflects several material concerns regarding the current formulation of the proposal:

1. Lack of Budget Detail/Potential Duplications: This proposal bundles nine maintenance workstreams into a single budget, grouping 74% (46M ada) of the funds into a broad "Development" category, which, without a granular Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) headcount breakdown, limits the capacity to verify cost efficiency. Additionally, given that the same development teams contribute across multiple initiatives, there appears to be a funding overlap with resources already requested in the Upgrades, Plutus, Consensus, and Developer Experience proposals. Providing a more detailed budget breakdown would help the community in conducting a clear cost-benefit analysis and ensure there is no duplication of funding.
2. Lack of Quantifiable Deliverables: The proposal functions structurally as an open-ended funding commitment lacking defined technical boundaries, presenting a deficit of tangible deliverables, milestones, or open-source repository evidence mapping out the work. Without clear engineering baselines, it acts as an unquantifiable blanket retainer that challenges our ability to properly assess the proposal.
3. Substantial Budget Inflation: The requested amount of 62.1M ada (approximately 14.9M USD) represents a high allocation of treasury resources. Industry baselines indicate that these costs are significantly inflated relative to the actual operational overhead required for equivalent DevOps and core maintenance tasks.
4. Structural Preference for Targeted Initiatives: The Cardano Foundation maintains a clear structural preference for a modular funding framework wherever possible. Funding generalized blanket proposals introduces fiscal uncertainty, whereas smaller, targeted sub-proposals (such as specific consensus, developer experience, or scaling layer initiatives) feature transparent line-item budgets and clearly defined milestones that allow for rigorous milestone-based verification.
5. Node Diversity Risks: To support a healthy multi-client ecosystem, overarching services such as global network monitoring and core documentation (e.g., the Cardano Blueprint) should be gradually decoupled from node-specific maintenance to ensure a completely product-agnostic and inclusive infrastructure landscape.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation votes ABSTAIN. We appreciate the critical nature of network maintenance and the expertise of the proposing teams. However, we require greater financial transparency, and a more node-agnostic approach to ecosystem tooling in order to properly assess this proposal. If this proposal does not reach the required approval threshold, we ask the proposers to refine and resubmit. A resubmission would greatly benefit from a decoupled structure, detailed FTE allocations, and an independent oversight mechanism to ensure verifiable and neutral delivery.

101. IO & Midgard Labs - L2 Scalability Initiative

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes ABSTAIN. While Layer 2 scaling is important for enterprise DApps, the proposal's lack of budget granularity, contested IP, and unresolved 2025 milestones introduce uncertainty. While we do not oppose this proposal, we urge a refined resubmission if it does not pass.

Rationale Statement

We support the technological objectives and the necessity of Layer 2 scaling, however we require further clarity regarding the following uncertainties before we are able to support:

1. Unclear Scope and Structural Bundling: The proposal bundles two Layer 2 technologies at different stages of their respective product lifecycles into a single governance action. Furthermore, the financial distribution is skewed; despite being a titular focus of the initiative, the Midgard workstream receives only 9% of the allocated funding, while Hydra consumes approximately 73%.
2. Milestone Accountability and Prior Deliverables: Midgard's 2025 funded milestones under contract EC-0001-25 were previously reported as past due and paused. While new evidence was submitted on May 19 to claim milestones 2–5, these submissions remain pending final verification. Committing additional treasury resources without a fully finalized reconciliation of past deliverables introduces significant fiscal uncertainty.
3. Budget Granularity and Potential Overlaps: The 10.4M ada request lacks a granular breakdown. The technical scope for Workstream 2 (Hydra) closely mirrors the team's existing public roadmap and open pull requests, making it difficult to isolate net-new work from previously funded core engineering efforts. Additionally, the 1.8M ada requested for a bespoke Data Availability (DA) prototype does not sufficiently clarify why existing modular alternatives are unsuitable.
4. Technical, IP, and Organizational Risks: The proposal contains contradictory timelines regarding the Midgard mainnet launch (end of 2026 versus Q1 2027). Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) also noted unresolved authorship and payment disputes (e.g., PR #434) that introduce contested-IP risks. Finally, the legal distinction and relationship between "Midgard Labs" and Anastasia Labs require clarification to ensure accountability.
5. Unsubstantiated Metrics and Commercial Dependencies: Performance claims such as "10,000+ TPS" are presented without concrete benchmarking data or baseline metrics. Furthermore, the proposal relies heavily on specific commercial partners (like Delta DeFi and Masumi) continuing to build, without providing contingency plans. Ideally, commercial entities utilizing the stack for enterprise applications should contribute to the hardening of the infrastructure they rely upon.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation votes ABSTAIN. We appreciate the dialogue with IOG on this proposal which contributed to our voting decision. We value the technical ambition of this initiative and respect the engineering teams involved, but we cannot support this proposal in its current state without proper budget breakdowns, clarity on IP, and clear accountability for past milestones. If this proposal does not reach the required approval threshold, we ask the proposers to refine and resubmit their initiative.

102. IO - Cardano High Assurance Technical Collaboration

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. Automating formal verification is a strategic public good that reinforces network security. Despite significant concerns regarding budget opacity and adoption risks, the ecosystem benefits outweigh the reservations.

Rationale Statement

We support this proposal because it aligns with Cardano's core value proposition of security, correctness, and determinism. Our YES vote is grounded in the following primary drivers:

1. Strategic Digital Trust Infrastructure: Cardano’s underlying smart contract model, based on Lambda calculus and determinism, is uniquely positioned for formal mathematical verification. Recent high-profile vulnerabilities in EVM-based DeFi protocols, such as the ~$300M Kelp DAO exploit, highlight that verifiable security is a strict prerequisite for institutional adoption. This enables a shift away from high-risk environments toward highly secure, institutional-grade DeFi applications.
2. Universal Ecosystem Support via UPLC: The proposed automated verification tool, Blaster, operates directly on Untyped Plutus Core (UPLC). This architectural choice is strategic, as it avoids siloed development and simultaneously supports developers across the ecosystem, regardless of whether they write in Aiken, Plutus, or other high-level smart contract languages.
3. Lowering the Barrier to Entry: Historically, formal verification has been restricted to specialized experts. By providing a Lean4-based verification enabler, integrating it directly into native toolchains (e.g., VS Code), and offering extended "one-click" containerized developer environments, this initiative significantly democratizes access to production-ready, secure smart contract development.
4. AI-Agentic Workflow Readiness: As software engineering transitions toward AI-assisted development, the emphasis on robust Command Line Interfaces (CLIs) within this proposal provides a strong, secure foundation for future integration with autonomous AI agents, ensuring Cardano's toolchain remains forward-looking.
5. Reusable and Auditable Components: The initiative focuses on d

This document includes the Cardano Foundation’s voting decisions and individual voting rationales for nine Treasury Withdrawal governance actions submitted by Input Output Global.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

We have decided to create a unified document to record our votes as many of the initiatives are connected.

We invite the proposers and anyone else from the Cardano Community to carefully review our individual rationales below per proposal, as well as the following table.

Governance Action Title	CF DRep Vote
97. IO - Developer Experience Initiative	NO
98. IO - Cardano Upgrades	YES
99. IO - Consensus Initiative	YES
100. IO & Ensurable Systems - Cardano Maintenance Initiative	ABSTAIN
101. IO & Midgard Labs - L2 Scalability Initiative	ABSTAIN
102. IO - Cardano High Assurance Technical Collaboration	YES
103. IO & VacuumLabs - Enhancing Plutus - Performance, Correctness, and Usability	NO
104. Blockfrost - Maintenance and Next Generation Indexing	NO
105. Pogun - Capital Without Compromise	YES

Individual Rationales

The following section contains all nine individual voting rationales for the above-mentioned proposals.

97. IO - Developer Experience Initiative

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes NO. We are eager to collaborate on DevX, but this proposal is expensive, lacks financial granularity, and risks duplicating ecosystem efforts. We encourage returning with a leaner, more detailed, and coordinated resubmission addressing the points as recommended below.

Rationale Statement

We recognize that developer onboarding is a critical vertical, and we appreciate the proposers targeting legitimate ecosystem pain points. While we fully support the overarching goals, we cannot approve this treasury withdrawal in its current form due to the following structural and financial concerns:

1. Costs Lacking Granularity: The request for approximately 900k USD is exceptionally high for a 6-month timeframe. The budget lacks a meaningful Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) breakdown, allocating 81% to a broadly categorized "Development & Engineering" bucket. This makes it difficult to distinguish between community bounties, hackathon prizes, and administrative overhead, hindering our ability to evaluate financial proportionality.Creating CLI tooling, cleaning documentation, and building contract templates can be achieved in a cost-effective way which does not require a budget of this size.
2. Overlap with Active CF and Intersect Initiatives: The proposal intends to restructure the "Developer HUB" using the Developer Portal as its primary entry point. The Developer Portal is already actively maintained, funded, and strategized by the Cardano Foundation alongside Intersect committees. While we are highly receptive to ecosystem contributions, requesting nearly 900k USD to duplicate or restructure ongoing work is inefficient. We would welcome collaboration on this workstream to improve cost efficiency.
3. Severe Execution Risk: The proposal requests funding for only six months. The proposer indicates that the engineering team for these workstreams has not yet been established and will be hired using the funds released from this withdrawal. Setting up a new team and familiarizing them with the necessary ecosystem intricacies will conservatively consume a significant portion of this short timeframe, jeopardizing the delivery schedule. A future proposal would be significantly strengthened by establishing an upfront execution structure. Clearly identifying, aligning, and sharing ownership with ecosystem partners from the outset ensures precise accountability for all deliverables.
4. Lack of Long-Term Ownership and Maintenance: There is no clear transition strategy for the resulting products (such as cardano-init or the contracts library) after the initial six-month funding period. The ecosystem requires continuous, ongoing feedback and maintenance for developer tools, rather than a highly expensive, short-term sprint that risks leaving behind abandoned infrastructure if subsequent funding is not secured.
5. Open Source Fragmentation: While cardano-init is explicitly designed as an aggregation layer to unify and elevate existing ecosystem tools rather than replace them, its long-term value hinges heavily on sustained community buy-in. The proposal’s strategy for allocating bounties and incentives to existing tool maintainers is a strong step toward coordination. However, the primary risk shifts from community fragmentation to the execution of integrations: we must ensure that external toolmakers actively maintain these integrations over time so the aggregator remains a reliable, up-to-date entry point for new developers.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation votes NO. While the ambition to improve Cardano's developer experience is valued, this proposal's steep cost, execution risks, and overlapping scope prevent us from approving it in its current form. To secure approval, a resubmission must be leaner, more cost-effective and provide a granular FTE budget breakdown for financial transparency. It should also integrate with active Cardano Foundation and Intersect initiatives to avoid duplicating ongoing work, establish an execution structure with a pre-identified team to ensure delivery within the tight six-month window, and outline a strategy for long-term maintenance and community buy-in.

98. IO - Cardano Upgrades

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. CIP-159, CPS-23, and Native Babel Fees have potential to improve L2 reserves, protect against volatility, and improve onboarding. Despite certain budget and execution concerns, we view the 13.1M ada ask as an acceptable investment.

Rationale Statement

We recognize the impact these three platform-level capabilities will have on Cardano’s economic models and ecosystem growth. We are voting YES based on the following technical and strategic assessments:

1. Critical Infrastructure and Economic Resilience: The CIP-159 (Account Address Enhancements) upgrade bridges the gap between UTXO and Account models. By solving the minUTxO constraints, it enables micro-fee collection, cheaper DeFi batcher operations, and introduces new smart contract paradigms more familiar to EVM developers. Furthermore, it is a prerequisite for seamless L2 reserve management. CPS-23 (Multi-Asset Treasury) enables the Cardano Treasury to hold stablecoins or other native assets, which is a next step for long-term sustainability. It could protect the ecosystem's funding runway from ADA price volatility and introduce the potential for diverse treasury holdings.
2. Native Babel Fees and Onboarding: While non-native (smart contract-based) Babel fees currently exist within the ecosystem, they have struggled to gain significant traction. Allowing users to interact with Cardano DApps using stablecoins or bridged assets without first acquiring ADA will hopefully be a driver for mainstream institutional and retail adoption.

3. Feedback for Ongoing Alignment: While we support funding this initiative, there are elements of this proposal which raised concerns and we wish to offer feedback.

Implementing CIP-159 fundamentally alters Cardano's accounting model. With alternative nodes like Amaru and Dingo actively in development, introducing such massive ledger changes requires careful coordination. Making frequent, significant modifications directly onto the Layer 1 core ledger introduces substantial maintenance fatigue for open-source builders, which can be lessened with coordination. We urge IO to collaborate to establish a clear framework for alignment with other node implementation and material downstream tooling teams to prevent consensus fragmentation.

Workstream 2 allocates roughly $565,000 USD primarily to design and draft the Multi-Asset Treasury CIP. For a design-phase deliverable, this is a premium investment. We expect this effort to feature rigorous, high-quality deliverables, contributions to improvements to the overall CIP process and extensive community consultation to reflect the amount.

Workstream 3 includes integration with the Lace wallet. Given the use of treasury funds, we expect the IO team to ensure that the underlying infrastructure for Native Babel Fees is open and easily accessible for all ecosystem wallets, Tx builders (e.g., Mesh, Lucid Evolution), and indexers, rather than focusing support solely on its own products.

Although these concerns are valid, we appreciate the dialogue with IOG on this proposal which contributed to this voting decision.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. The combination of Account Enhancements, a Multi-Asset Treasury, and Native Babel Fees represents a step forward for Cardano's scalability, developer experience, and economic sustainability.

99. IO - Consensus Initiative

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. Leios is important for scaling Cardano and long-term competitiveness. Despite concerns over budget opacity and prior funding overlaps, delaying this upgrade risks ecosystem stagnation. We approve to ensure development continuity.

Rationale Statement

We recognize the impact that the Consensus Initiative (Leios) will have on the network’s capacity. We are voting YES based on the following technical and strategic assessments:

1. Essential Base Layer Scaling: Scaling through Leios is fundamentally positive and provides Cardano with a massive upgrade. To ensure Cardano remains competitive with newer Layer 1 blockchains in terms of throughput, upgrading the base protocol is non-negotiable. This prevents the network from adopting unsustainable design patterns, such as forcing all high-volume activity to Layer 2 solutions.
2. Core Infrastructure Investment: This proposal is a direct investment in the core protocol infrastructure. The Leios research phase has produced solid, academic-level work fully in the spirit of a peer-reviewed blockchain.
3. Development Continuity: Leios development requires highly specialized knowledge. Voting NO at this critical juncture would risk halting momentum, meaning expert engineering teams would need to be replaced or re-assembled at a later date. Approving this proposal ensures the unbroken continuation of the roadmap toward the Dijkstra era.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. We recognize that Leios is a credible path available to meet Cardano's 2030 scaling ambitions. While we have significant concerns regarding the insufficiently detailed, escalating budget, the risk of derailing base-layer scaling is too significant.

100. IO & Ensurable Systems - Cardano Maintenance Initiative

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes ABSTAIN. We appreciate the dialogue with IOG on this proposal, which contributed to our voting decision. While continuous maintenance is important for long-term network stability, this 62.1M ada proposal presents fiscal uncertainty and the scope appears to duplicate funding of other concurrent initiatives.

Rationale Statement

While the critical importance of keeping the network operating securely is undisputed, our evaluation reflects several material concerns regarding the current formulation of the proposal:

1. Lack of Budget Detail/Potential Duplications: This proposal bundles nine maintenance workstreams into a single budget, grouping 74% (46M ada) of the funds into a broad "Development" category, which, without a granular Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) headcount breakdown, limits the capacity to verify cost efficiency. Additionally, given that the same development teams contribute across multiple initiatives, there appears to be a funding overlap with resources already requested in the Upgrades, Plutus, Consensus, and Developer Experience proposals. Providing a more detailed budget breakdown would help the community in conducting a clear cost-benefit analysis and ensure there is no duplication of funding.
2. Lack of Quantifiable Deliverables: The proposal functions structurally as an open-ended funding commitment lacking defined technical boundaries, presenting a deficit of tangible deliverables, milestones, or open-source repository evidence mapping out the work. Without clear engineering baselines, it acts as an unquantifiable blanket retainer that challenges our ability to properly assess the proposal.
3. Substantial Budget Inflation: The requested amount of 62.1M ada (approximately 14.9M USD) represents a high allocation of treasury resources. Industry baselines indicate that these costs are significantly inflated relative to the actual operational overhead required for equivalent DevOps and core maintenance tasks.
4. Structural Preference for Targeted Initiatives: The Cardano Foundation maintains a clear structural preference for a modular funding framework wherever possible. Funding generalized blanket proposals introduces fiscal uncertainty, whereas smaller, targeted sub-proposals (such as specific consensus, developer experience, or scaling layer initiatives) feature transparent line-item budgets and clearly defined milestones that allow for rigorous milestone-based verification.
5. Node Diversity Risks: To support a healthy multi-client ecosystem, overarching services such as global network monitoring and core documentation (e.g., the Cardano Blueprint) should be gradually decoupled from node-specific maintenance to ensure a completely product-agnostic and inclusive infrastructure landscape.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation votes ABSTAIN. We appreciate the critical nature of network maintenance and the expertise of the proposing teams. However, we require greater financial transparency, and a more node-agnostic approach to ecosystem tooling in order to properly assess this proposal. If this proposal does not reach the required approval threshold, we ask the proposers to refine and resubmit. A resubmission would greatly benefit from a decoupled structure, detailed FTE allocations, and an independent oversight mechanism to ensure verifiable and neutral delivery.

101. IO & Midgard Labs - L2 Scalability Initiative

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes ABSTAIN. While Layer 2 scaling is important for enterprise DApps, the proposal's lack of budget granularity, contested IP, and unresolved 2025 milestones introduce uncertainty. While we do not oppose this proposal, we urge a refined resubmission if it does not pass.

Rationale Statement

We support the technological objectives and the necessity of Layer 2 scaling, however we require further clarity regarding the following uncertainties before we are able to support:

1. Unclear Scope and Structural Bundling: The proposal bundles two Layer 2 technologies at different stages of their respective product lifecycles into a single governance action. Furthermore, the financial distribution is skewed; despite being a titular focus of the initiative, the Midgard workstream receives only 9% of the allocated funding, while Hydra consumes approximately 73%.
2. Milestone Accountability and Prior Deliverables: Midgard's 2025 funded milestones under contract EC-0001-25 were previously reported as past due and paused. While new evidence was submitted on May 19 to claim milestones 2–5, these submissions remain pending final verification. Committing additional treasury resources without a fully finalized reconciliation of past deliverables introduces significant fiscal uncertainty.
3. Budget Granularity and Potential Overlaps: The 10.4M ada request lacks a granular breakdown. The technical scope for Workstream 2 (Hydra) closely mirrors the team's existing public roadmap and open pull requests, making it difficult to isolate net-new work from previously funded core engineering efforts. Additionally, the 1.8M ada requested for a bespoke Data Availability (DA) prototype does not sufficiently clarify why existing modular alternatives are unsuitable.
4. Technical, IP, and Organizational Risks: The proposal contains contradictory timelines regarding the Midgard mainnet launch (end of 2026 versus Q1 2027). Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) also noted unresolved authorship and payment disputes (e.g., PR #434) that introduce contested-IP risks. Finally, the legal distinction and relationship between "Midgard Labs" and Anastasia Labs require clarification to ensure accountability.
5. Unsubstantiated Metrics and Commercial Dependencies: Performance claims such as "10,000+ TPS" are presented without concrete benchmarking data or baseline metrics. Furthermore, the proposal relies heavily on specific commercial partners (like Delta DeFi and Masumi) continuing to build, without providing contingency plans. Ideally, commercial entities utilizing the stack for enterprise applications should contribute to the hardening of the infrastructure they rely upon.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation votes ABSTAIN. We appreciate the dialogue with IOG on this proposal which contributed to our voting decision. We value the technical ambition of this initiative and respect the engineering teams involved, but we cannot support this proposal in its current state without proper budget breakdowns, clarity on IP, and clear accountability for past milestones. If this proposal does not reach the required approval threshold, we ask the proposers to refine and resubmit their initiative.

102. IO - Cardano High Assurance Technical Collaboration

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. Automating formal verification is a strategic public good that reinforces network security. Despite significant concerns regarding budget opacity and adoption risks, the ecosystem benefits outweigh the reservations.

Rationale Statement

We support this proposal because it aligns with Cardano's core value proposition of security, correctness, and determinism. Our YES vote is grounded in the following primary drivers:

1. Strategic Digital Trust Infrastructure: Cardano’s underlying smart contract model, based on Lambda calculus and determinism, is uniquely positioned for formal mathematical verification. Recent high-profile vulnerabilities in EVM-based DeFi protocols, such as the ~$300M Kelp DAO exploit, highlight that verifiable security is a strict prerequisite for institutional adoption. This enables a shift away from high-risk environments toward highly secure, institutional-grade DeFi applications.
2. Universal Ecosystem Support via UPLC: The proposed automated verification tool, Blaster, operates directly on Untyped Plutus Core (UPLC). This architectural choice is strategic, as it avoids siloed development and simultaneously supports developers across the ecosystem, regardless of whether they write in Aiken, Plutus, or other high-level smart contract languages.
3. Lowering the Barrier to Entry: Historically, formal verification has been restricted to specialized experts. By providing a Lean4-based verification enabler, integrating it directly into native toolchains (e.g., VS Code), and offering extended "one-click" containerized developer environments, this initiative significantly democratizes access to production-ready, secure smart contract development.
4. AI-Agentic Workflow Readiness: As software engineering transitions toward AI-assisted development, the emphasis on robust Command Line Interfaces (CLIs) within this proposal provides a strong, secure foundation for future integration with autonomous AI agents, ensuring Cardano's toolchain remains forward-looking.
5. Reusable and Auditable Components: The initiative focuses on d

This document includes the Cardano Foundation’s voting decisions and individual voting rationales for nine Treasury Withdrawal governance actions submitted by Input Output Global.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

We have decided to create a unified document to record our votes as many of the initiatives are connected.

We invite the proposers and anyone else from the Cardano Community to carefully review our individual rationales below per proposal, as well as the following table.

Governance Action Title	CF DRep Vote
97. IO - Developer Experience Initiative	NO
98. IO - Cardano Upgrades	YES
99. IO - Consensus Initiative	YES
100. IO & Ensurable Systems - Cardano Maintenance Initiative	ABSTAIN
101. IO & Midgard Labs - L2 Scalability Initiative	ABSTAIN
102. IO - Cardano High Assurance Technical Collaboration	YES
103. IO & VacuumLabs - Enhancing Plutus - Performance, Correctness, and Usability	NO
104. Blockfrost - Maintenance and Next Generation Indexing	NO
105. Pogun - Capital Without Compromise	YES

Individual Rationales

The following section contains all nine individual voting rationales for the above-mentioned proposals.

97. IO - Developer Experience Initiative

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes NO. We are eager to collaborate on DevX, but this proposal is expensive, lacks financial granularity, and risks duplicating ecosystem efforts. We encourage returning with a leaner, more detailed, and coordinated resubmission addressing the points as recommended below.

Rationale Statement

We recognize that developer onboarding is a critical vertical, and we appreciate the proposers targeting legitimate ecosystem pain points. While we fully support the overarching goals, we cannot approve this treasury withdrawal in its current form due to the following structural and financial concerns:

1. Costs Lacking Granularity: The request for approximately 900k USD is exceptionally high for a 6-month timeframe. The budget lacks a meaningful Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) breakdown, allocating 81% to a broadly categorized "Development & Engineering" bucket. This makes it difficult to distinguish between community bounties, hackathon prizes, and administrative overhead, hindering our ability to evaluate financial proportionality.Creating CLI tooling, cleaning documentation, and building contract templates can be achieved in a cost-effective way which does not require a budget of this size.
2. Overlap with Active CF and Intersect Initiatives: The proposal intends to restructure the "Developer HUB" using the Developer Portal as its primary entry point. The Developer Portal is already actively maintained, funded, and strategized by the Cardano Foundation alongside Intersect committees. While we are highly receptive to ecosystem contributions, requesting nearly 900k USD to duplicate or restructure ongoing work is inefficient. We would welcome collaboration on this workstream to improve cost efficiency.
3. Severe Execution Risk: The proposal requests funding for only six months. The proposer indicates that the engineering team for these workstreams has not yet been established and will be hired using the funds released from this withdrawal. Setting up a new team and familiarizing them with the necessary ecosystem intricacies will conservatively consume a significant portion of this short timeframe, jeopardizing the delivery schedule. A future proposal would be significantly strengthened by establishing an upfront execution structure. Clearly identifying, aligning, and sharing ownership with ecosystem partners from the outset ensures precise accountability for all deliverables.
4. Lack of Long-Term Ownership and Maintenance: There is no clear transition strategy for the resulting products (such as cardano-init or the contracts library) after the initial six-month funding period. The ecosystem requires continuous, ongoing feedback and maintenance for developer tools, rather than a highly expensive, short-term sprint that risks leaving behind abandoned infrastructure if subsequent funding is not secured.
5. Open Source Fragmentation: While cardano-init is explicitly designed as an aggregation layer to unify and elevate existing ecosystem tools rather than replace them, its long-term value hinges heavily on sustained community buy-in. The proposal’s strategy for allocating bounties and incentives to existing tool maintainers is a strong step toward coordination. However, the primary risk shifts from community fragmentation to the execution of integrations: we must ensure that external toolmakers actively maintain these integrations over time so the aggregator remains a reliable, up-to-date entry point for new developers.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation votes NO. While the ambition to improve Cardano's developer experience is valued, this proposal's steep cost, execution risks, and overlapping scope prevent us from approving it in its current form. To secure approval, a resubmission must be leaner, more cost-effective and provide a granular FTE budget breakdown for financial transparency. It should also integrate with active Cardano Foundation and Intersect initiatives to avoid duplicating ongoing work, establish an execution structure with a pre-identified team to ensure delivery within the tight six-month window, and outline a strategy for long-term maintenance and community buy-in.

98. IO - Cardano Upgrades

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. CIP-159, CPS-23, and Native Babel Fees have potential to improve L2 reserves, protect against volatility, and improve onboarding. Despite certain budget and execution concerns, we view the 13.1M ada ask as an acceptable investment.

Rationale Statement

We recognize the impact these three platform-level capabilities will have on Cardano’s economic models and ecosystem growth. We are voting YES based on the following technical and strategic assessments:

1. Critical Infrastructure and Economic Resilience: The CIP-159 (Account Address Enhancements) upgrade bridges the gap between UTXO and Account models. By solving the minUTxO constraints, it enables micro-fee collection, cheaper DeFi batcher operations, and introduces new smart contract paradigms more familiar to EVM developers. Furthermore, it is a prerequisite for seamless L2 reserve management. CPS-23 (Multi-Asset Treasury) enables the Cardano Treasury to hold stablecoins or other native assets, which is a next step for long-term sustainability. It could protect the ecosystem's funding runway from ADA price volatility and introduce the potential for diverse treasury holdings.
2. Native Babel Fees and Onboarding: While non-native (smart contract-based) Babel fees currently exist within the ecosystem, they have struggled to gain significant traction. Allowing users to interact with Cardano DApps using stablecoins or bridged assets without first acquiring ADA will hopefully be a driver for mainstream institutional and retail adoption.

3. Feedback for Ongoing Alignment: While we support funding this initiative, there are elements of this proposal which raised concerns and we wish to offer feedback.

Implementing CIP-159 fundamentally alters Cardano's accounting model. With alternative nodes like Amaru and Dingo actively in development, introducing such massive ledger changes requires careful coordination. Making frequent, significant modifications directly onto the Layer 1 core ledger introduces substantial maintenance fatigue for open-source builders, which can be lessened with coordination. We urge IO to collaborate to establish a clear framework for alignment with other node implementation and material downstream tooling teams to prevent consensus fragmentation.

Workstream 2 allocates roughly $565,000 USD primarily to design and draft the Multi-Asset Treasury CIP. For a design-phase deliverable, this is a premium investment. We expect this effort to feature rigorous, high-quality deliverables, contributions to improvements to the overall CIP process and extensive community consultation to reflect the amount.

Workstream 3 includes integration with the Lace wallet. Given the use of treasury funds, we expect the IO team to ensure that the underlying infrastructure for Native Babel Fees is open and easily accessible for all ecosystem wallets, Tx builders (e.g., Mesh, Lucid Evolution), and indexers, rather than focusing support solely on its own products.

Although these concerns are valid, we appreciate the dialogue with IOG on this proposal which contributed to this voting decision.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. The combination of Account Enhancements, a Multi-Asset Treasury, and Native Babel Fees represents a step forward for Cardano's scalability, developer experience, and economic sustainability.

99. IO - Consensus Initiative

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. Leios is important for scaling Cardano and long-term competitiveness. Despite concerns over budget opacity and prior funding overlaps, delaying this upgrade risks ecosystem stagnation. We approve to ensure development continuity.

Rationale Statement

We recognize the impact that the Consensus Initiative (Leios) will have on the network’s capacity. We are voting YES based on the following technical and strategic assessments:

1. Essential Base Layer Scaling: Scaling through Leios is fundamentally positive and provides Cardano with a massive upgrade. To ensure Cardano remains competitive with newer Layer 1 blockchains in terms of throughput, upgrading the base protocol is non-negotiable. This prevents the network from adopting unsustainable design patterns, such as forcing all high-volume activity to Layer 2 solutions.
2. Core Infrastructure Investment: This proposal is a direct investment in the core protocol infrastructure. The Leios research phase has produced solid, academic-level work fully in the spirit of a peer-reviewed blockchain.
3. Development Continuity: Leios development requires highly specialized knowledge. Voting NO at this critical juncture would risk halting momentum, meaning expert engineering teams would need to be replaced or re-assembled at a later date. Approving this proposal ensures the unbroken continuation of the roadmap toward the Dijkstra era.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. We recognize that Leios is a credible path available to meet Cardano's 2030 scaling ambitions. While we have significant concerns regarding the insufficiently detailed, escalating budget, the risk of derailing base-layer scaling is too significant.

100. IO & Ensurable Systems - Cardano Maintenance Initiative

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes ABSTAIN. We appreciate the dialogue with IOG on this proposal, which contributed to our voting decision. While continuous maintenance is important for long-term network stability, this 62.1M ada proposal presents fiscal uncertainty and the scope appears to duplicate funding of other concurrent initiatives.

Rationale Statement

While the critical importance of keeping the network operating securely is undisputed, our evaluation reflects several material concerns regarding the current formulation of the proposal:

1. Lack of Budget Detail/Potential Duplications: This proposal bundles nine maintenance workstreams into a single budget, grouping 74% (46M ada) of the funds into a broad "Development" category, which, without a granular Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) headcount breakdown, limits the capacity to verify cost efficiency. Additionally, given that the same development teams contribute across multiple initiatives, there appears to be a funding overlap with resources already requested in the Upgrades, Plutus, Consensus, and Developer Experience proposals. Providing a more detailed budget breakdown would help the community in conducting a clear cost-benefit analysis and ensure there is no duplication of funding.
2. Lack of Quantifiable Deliverables: The proposal functions structurally as an open-ended funding commitment lacking defined technical boundaries, presenting a deficit of tangible deliverables, milestones, or open-source repository evidence mapping out the work. Without clear engineering baselines, it acts as an unquantifiable blanket retainer that challenges our ability to properly assess the proposal.
3. Substantial Budget Inflation: The requested amount of 62.1M ada (approximately 14.9M USD) represents a high allocation of treasury resources. Industry baselines indicate that these costs are significantly inflated relative to the actual operational overhead required for equivalent DevOps and core maintenance tasks.
4. Structural Preference for Targeted Initiatives: The Cardano Foundation maintains a clear structural preference for a modular funding framework wherever possible. Funding generalized blanket proposals introduces fiscal uncertainty, whereas smaller, targeted sub-proposals (such as specific consensus, developer experience, or scaling layer initiatives) feature transparent line-item budgets and clearly defined milestones that allow for rigorous milestone-based verification.
5. Node Diversity Risks: To support a healthy multi-client ecosystem, overarching services such as global network monitoring and core documentation (e.g., the Cardano Blueprint) should be gradually decoupled from node-specific maintenance to ensure a completely product-agnostic and inclusive infrastructure landscape.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation votes ABSTAIN. We appreciate the critical nature of network maintenance and the expertise of the proposing teams. However, we require greater financial transparency, and a more node-agnostic approach to ecosystem tooling in order to properly assess this proposal. If this proposal does not reach the required approval threshold, we ask the proposers to refine and resubmit. A resubmission would greatly benefit from a decoupled structure, detailed FTE allocations, and an independent oversight mechanism to ensure verifiable and neutral delivery.

101. IO & Midgard Labs - L2 Scalability Initiative

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes ABSTAIN. While Layer 2 scaling is important for enterprise DApps, the proposal's lack of budget granularity, contested IP, and unresolved 2025 milestones introduce uncertainty. While we do not oppose this proposal, we urge a refined resubmission if it does not pass.

Rationale Statement

We support the technological objectives and the necessity of Layer 2 scaling, however we require further clarity regarding the following uncertainties before we are able to support:

1. Unclear Scope and Structural Bundling: The proposal bundles two Layer 2 technologies at different stages of their respective product lifecycles into a single governance action. Furthermore, the financial distribution is skewed; despite being a titular focus of the initiative, the Midgard workstream receives only 9% of the allocated funding, while Hydra consumes approximately 73%.
2. Milestone Accountability and Prior Deliverables: Midgard's 2025 funded milestones under contract EC-0001-25 were previously reported as past due and paused. While new evidence was submitted on May 19 to claim milestones 2–5, these submissions remain pending final verification. Committing additional treasury resources without a fully finalized reconciliation of past deliverables introduces significant fiscal uncertainty.
3. Budget Granularity and Potential Overlaps: The 10.4M ada request lacks a granular breakdown. The technical scope for Workstream 2 (Hydra) closely mirrors the team's existing public roadmap and open pull requests, making it difficult to isolate net-new work from previously funded core engineering efforts. Additionally, the 1.8M ada requested for a bespoke Data Availability (DA) prototype does not sufficiently clarify why existing modular alternatives are unsuitable.
4. Technical, IP, and Organizational Risks: The proposal contains contradictory timelines regarding the Midgard mainnet launch (end of 2026 versus Q1 2027). Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) also noted unresolved authorship and payment disputes (e.g., PR #434) that introduce contested-IP risks. Finally, the legal distinction and relationship between "Midgard Labs" and Anastasia Labs require clarification to ensure accountability.
5. Unsubstantiated Metrics and Commercial Dependencies: Performance claims such as "10,000+ TPS" are presented without concrete benchmarking data or baseline metrics. Furthermore, the proposal relies heavily on specific commercial partners (like Delta DeFi and Masumi) continuing to build, without providing contingency plans. Ideally, commercial entities utilizing the stack for enterprise applications should contribute to the hardening of the infrastructure they rely upon.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation votes ABSTAIN. We appreciate the dialogue with IOG on this proposal which contributed to our voting decision. We value the technical ambition of this initiative and respect the engineering teams involved, but we cannot support this proposal in its current state without proper budget breakdowns, clarity on IP, and clear accountability for past milestones. If this proposal does not reach the required approval threshold, we ask the proposers to refine and resubmit their initiative.

102. IO - Cardano High Assurance Technical Collaboration

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. Automating formal verification is a strategic public good that reinforces network security. Despite significant concerns regarding budget opacity and adoption risks, the ecosystem benefits outweigh the reservations.

Rationale Statement

We support this proposal because it aligns with Cardano's core value proposition of security, correctness, and determinism. Our YES vote is grounded in the following primary drivers:

1. Strategic Digital Trust Infrastructure: Cardano’s underlying smart contract model, based on Lambda calculus and determinism, is uniquely positioned for formal mathematical verification. Recent high-profile vulnerabilities in EVM-based DeFi protocols, such as the ~$300M Kelp DAO exploit, highlight that verifiable security is a strict prerequisite for institutional adoption. This enables a shift away from high-risk environments toward highly secure, institutional-grade DeFi applications.
2. Universal Ecosystem Support via UPLC: The proposed automated verification tool, Blaster, operates directly on Untyped Plutus Core (UPLC). This architectural choice is strategic, as it avoids siloed development and simultaneously supports developers across the ecosystem, regardless of whether they write in Aiken, Plutus, or other high-level smart contract languages.
3. Lowering the Barrier to Entry: Historically, formal verification has been restricted to specialized experts. By providing a Lean4-based verification enabler, integrating it directly into native toolchains (e.g., VS Code), and offering extended "one-click" containerized developer environments, this initiative significantly democratizes access to production-ready, secure smart contract development.
4. AI-Agentic Workflow Readiness: As software engineering transitions toward AI-assisted development, the emphasis on robust Command Line Interfaces (CLIs) within this proposal provides a strong, secure foundation for future integration with autonomous AI agents, ensuring Cardano's toolchain remains forward-looking.
5. Reusable and Auditable Components: The initiative focuses on d

This document includes the Cardano Foundation’s voting decisions and individual voting rationales for nine Treasury Withdrawal governance actions submitted by Input Output Global.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

We have decided to create a unified document to record our votes as many of the initiatives are connected.

We invite the proposers and anyone else from the Cardano Community to carefully review our individual rationales below per proposal, as well as the following table.

Governance Action Title	CF DRep Vote
97. IO - Developer Experience Initiative	NO
98. IO - Cardano Upgrades	YES
99. IO - Consensus Initiative	YES
100. IO & Ensurable Systems - Cardano Maintenance Initiative	ABSTAIN
101. IO & Midgard Labs - L2 Scalability Initiative	ABSTAIN
102. IO - Cardano High Assurance Technical Collaboration	YES
103. IO & VacuumLabs - Enhancing Plutus - Performance, Correctness, and Usability	NO
104. Blockfrost - Maintenance and Next Generation Indexing	NO
105. Pogun - Capital Without Compromise	YES

Individual Rationales

The following section contains all nine individual voting rationales for the above-mentioned proposals.

97. IO - Developer Experience Initiative

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes NO. We are eager to collaborate on DevX, but this proposal is expensive, lacks financial granularity, and risks duplicating ecosystem efforts. We encourage returning with a leaner, more detailed, and coordinated resubmission addressing the points as recommended below.

Rationale Statement

We recognize that developer onboarding is a critical vertical, and we appreciate the proposers targeting legitimate ecosystem pain points. While we fully support the overarching goals, we cannot approve this treasury withdrawal in its current form due to the following structural and financial concerns:

1. Costs Lacking Granularity: The request for approximately 900k USD is exceptionally high for a 6-month timeframe. The budget lacks a meaningful Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) breakdown, allocating 81% to a broadly categorized "Development & Engineering" bucket. This makes it difficult to distinguish between community bounties, hackathon prizes, and administrative overhead, hindering our ability to evaluate financial proportionality.Creating CLI tooling, cleaning documentation, and building contract templates can be achieved in a cost-effective way which does not require a budget of this size.
2. Overlap with Active CF and Intersect Initiatives: The proposal intends to restructure the "Developer HUB" using the Developer Portal as its primary entry point. The Developer Portal is already actively maintained, funded, and strategized by the Cardano Foundation alongside Intersect committees. While we are highly receptive to ecosystem contributions, requesting nearly 900k USD to duplicate or restructure ongoing work is inefficient. We would welcome collaboration on this workstream to improve cost efficiency.
3. Severe Execution Risk: The proposal requests funding for only six months. The proposer indicates that the engineering team for these workstreams has not yet been established and will be hired using the funds released from this withdrawal. Setting up a new team and familiarizing them with the necessary ecosystem intricacies will conservatively consume a significant portion of this short timeframe, jeopardizing the delivery schedule. A future proposal would be significantly strengthened by establishing an upfront execution structure. Clearly identifying, aligning, and sharing ownership with ecosystem partners from the outset ensures precise accountability for all deliverables.
4. Lack of Long-Term Ownership and Maintenance: There is no clear transition strategy for the resulting products (such as cardano-init or the contracts library) after the initial six-month funding period. The ecosystem requires continuous, ongoing feedback and maintenance for developer tools, rather than a highly expensive, short-term sprint that risks leaving behind abandoned infrastructure if subsequent funding is not secured.
5. Open Source Fragmentation: While cardano-init is explicitly designed as an aggregation layer to unify and elevate existing ecosystem tools rather than replace them, its long-term value hinges heavily on sustained community buy-in. The proposal’s strategy for allocating bounties and incentives to existing tool maintainers is a strong step toward coordination. However, the primary risk shifts from community fragmentation to the execution of integrations: we must ensure that external toolmakers actively maintain these integrations over time so the aggregator remains a reliable, up-to-date entry point for new developers.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation votes NO. While the ambition to improve Cardano's developer experience is valued, this proposal's steep cost, execution risks, and overlapping scope prevent us from approving it in its current form. To secure approval, a resubmission must be leaner, more cost-effective and provide a granular FTE budget breakdown for financial transparency. It should also integrate with active Cardano Foundation and Intersect initiatives to avoid duplicating ongoing work, establish an execution structure with a pre-identified team to ensure delivery within the tight six-month window, and outline a strategy for long-term maintenance and community buy-in.

98. IO - Cardano Upgrades

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. CIP-159, CPS-23, and Native Babel Fees have potential to improve L2 reserves, protect against volatility, and improve onboarding. Despite certain budget and execution concerns, we view the 13.1M ada ask as an acceptable investment.

Rationale Statement

We recognize the impact these three platform-level capabilities will have on Cardano’s economic models and ecosystem growth. We are voting YES based on the following technical and strategic assessments:

1. Critical Infrastructure and Economic Resilience: The CIP-159 (Account Address Enhancements) upgrade bridges the gap between UTXO and Account models. By solving the minUTxO constraints, it enables micro-fee collection, cheaper DeFi batcher operations, and introduces new smart contract paradigms more familiar to EVM developers. Furthermore, it is a prerequisite for seamless L2 reserve management. CPS-23 (Multi-Asset Treasury) enables the Cardano Treasury to hold stablecoins or other native assets, which is a next step for long-term sustainability. It could protect the ecosystem's funding runway from ADA price volatility and introduce the potential for diverse treasury holdings.
2. Native Babel Fees and Onboarding: While non-native (smart contract-based) Babel fees currently exist within the ecosystem, they have struggled to gain significant traction. Allowing users to interact with Cardano DApps using stablecoins or bridged assets without first acquiring ADA will hopefully be a driver for mainstream institutional and retail adoption.

3. Feedback for Ongoing Alignment: While we support funding this initiative, there are elements of this proposal which raised concerns and we wish to offer feedback.

Implementing CIP-159 fundamentally alters Cardano's accounting model. With alternative nodes like Amaru and Dingo actively in development, introducing such massive ledger changes requires careful coordination. Making frequent, significant modifications directly onto the Layer 1 core ledger introduces substantial maintenance fatigue for open-source builders, which can be lessened with coordination. We urge IO to collaborate to establish a clear framework for alignment with other node implementation and material downstream tooling teams to prevent consensus fragmentation.

Workstream 2 allocates roughly $565,000 USD primarily to design and draft the Multi-Asset Treasury CIP. For a design-phase deliverable, this is a premium investment. We expect this effort to feature rigorous, high-quality deliverables, contributions to improvements to the overall CIP process and extensive community consultation to reflect the amount.

Workstream 3 includes integration with the Lace wallet. Given the use of treasury funds, we expect the IO team to ensure that the underlying infrastructure for Native Babel Fees is open and easily accessible for all ecosystem wallets, Tx builders (e.g., Mesh, Lucid Evolution), and indexers, rather than focusing support solely on its own products.

Although these concerns are valid, we appreciate the dialogue with IOG on this proposal which contributed to this voting decision.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. The combination of Account Enhancements, a Multi-Asset Treasury, and Native Babel Fees represents a step forward for Cardano's scalability, developer experience, and economic sustainability.

99. IO - Consensus Initiative

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. Leios is important for scaling Cardano and long-term competitiveness. Despite concerns over budget opacity and prior funding overlaps, delaying this upgrade risks ecosystem stagnation. We approve to ensure development continuity.

Rationale Statement

We recognize the impact that the Consensus Initiative (Leios) will have on the network’s capacity. We are voting YES based on the following technical and strategic assessments:

1. Essential Base Layer Scaling: Scaling through Leios is fundamentally positive and provides Cardano with a massive upgrade. To ensure Cardano remains competitive with newer Layer 1 blockchains in terms of throughput, upgrading the base protocol is non-negotiable. This prevents the network from adopting unsustainable design patterns, such as forcing all high-volume activity to Layer 2 solutions.
2. Core Infrastructure Investment: This proposal is a direct investment in the core protocol infrastructure. The Leios research phase has produced solid, academic-level work fully in the spirit of a peer-reviewed blockchain.
3. Development Continuity: Leios development requires highly specialized knowledge. Voting NO at this critical juncture would risk halting momentum, meaning expert engineering teams would need to be replaced or re-assembled at a later date. Approving this proposal ensures the unbroken continuation of the roadmap toward the Dijkstra era.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. We recognize that Leios is a credible path available to meet Cardano's 2030 scaling ambitions. While we have significant concerns regarding the insufficiently detailed, escalating budget, the risk of derailing base-layer scaling is too significant.

100. IO & Ensurable Systems - Cardano Maintenance Initiative

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes ABSTAIN. We appreciate the dialogue with IOG on this proposal, which contributed to our voting decision. While continuous maintenance is important for long-term network stability, this 62.1M ada proposal presents fiscal uncertainty and the scope appears to duplicate funding of other concurrent initiatives.

Rationale Statement

While the critical importance of keeping the network operating securely is undisputed, our evaluation reflects several material concerns regarding the current formulation of the proposal:

1. Lack of Budget Detail/Potential Duplications: This proposal bundles nine maintenance workstreams into a single budget, grouping 74% (46M ada) of the funds into a broad "Development" category, which, without a granular Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) headcount breakdown, limits the capacity to verify cost efficiency. Additionally, given that the same development teams contribute across multiple initiatives, there appears to be a funding overlap with resources already requested in the Upgrades, Plutus, Consensus, and Developer Experience proposals. Providing a more detailed budget breakdown would help the community in conducting a clear cost-benefit analysis and ensure there is no duplication of funding.
2. Lack of Quantifiable Deliverables: The proposal functions structurally as an open-ended funding commitment lacking defined technical boundaries, presenting a deficit of tangible deliverables, milestones, or open-source repository evidence mapping out the work. Without clear engineering baselines, it acts as an unquantifiable blanket retainer that challenges our ability to properly assess the proposal.
3. Substantial Budget Inflation: The requested amount of 62.1M ada (approximately 14.9M USD) represents a high allocation of treasury resources. Industry baselines indicate that these costs are significantly inflated relative to the actual operational overhead required for equivalent DevOps and core maintenance tasks.
4. Structural Preference for Targeted Initiatives: The Cardano Foundation maintains a clear structural preference for a modular funding framework wherever possible. Funding generalized blanket proposals introduces fiscal uncertainty, whereas smaller, targeted sub-proposals (such as specific consensus, developer experience, or scaling layer initiatives) feature transparent line-item budgets and clearly defined milestones that allow for rigorous milestone-based verification.
5. Node Diversity Risks: To support a healthy multi-client ecosystem, overarching services such as global network monitoring and core documentation (e.g., the Cardano Blueprint) should be gradually decoupled from node-specific maintenance to ensure a completely product-agnostic and inclusive infrastructure landscape.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation votes ABSTAIN. We appreciate the critical nature of network maintenance and the expertise of the proposing teams. However, we require greater financial transparency, and a more node-agnostic approach to ecosystem tooling in order to properly assess this proposal. If this proposal does not reach the required approval threshold, we ask the proposers to refine and resubmit. A resubmission would greatly benefit from a decoupled structure, detailed FTE allocations, and an independent oversight mechanism to ensure verifiable and neutral delivery.

101. IO & Midgard Labs - L2 Scalability Initiative

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes ABSTAIN. While Layer 2 scaling is important for enterprise DApps, the proposal's lack of budget granularity, contested IP, and unresolved 2025 milestones introduce uncertainty. While we do not oppose this proposal, we urge a refined resubmission if it does not pass.

Rationale Statement

We support the technological objectives and the necessity of Layer 2 scaling, however we require further clarity regarding the following uncertainties before we are able to support:

1. Unclear Scope and Structural Bundling: The proposal bundles two Layer 2 technologies at different stages of their respective product lifecycles into a single governance action. Furthermore, the financial distribution is skewed; despite being a titular focus of the initiative, the Midgard workstream receives only 9% of the allocated funding, while Hydra consumes approximately 73%.
2. Milestone Accountability and Prior Deliverables: Midgard's 2025 funded milestones under contract EC-0001-25 were previously reported as past due and paused. While new evidence was submitted on May 19 to claim milestones 2–5, these submissions remain pending final verification. Committing additional treasury resources without a fully finalized reconciliation of past deliverables introduces significant fiscal uncertainty.
3. Budget Granularity and Potential Overlaps: The 10.4M ada request lacks a granular breakdown. The technical scope for Workstream 2 (Hydra) closely mirrors the team's existing public roadmap and open pull requests, making it difficult to isolate net-new work from previously funded core engineering efforts. Additionally, the 1.8M ada requested for a bespoke Data Availability (DA) prototype does not sufficiently clarify why existing modular alternatives are unsuitable.
4. Technical, IP, and Organizational Risks: The proposal contains contradictory timelines regarding the Midgard mainnet launch (end of 2026 versus Q1 2027). Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) also noted unresolved authorship and payment disputes (e.g., PR #434) that introduce contested-IP risks. Finally, the legal distinction and relationship between "Midgard Labs" and Anastasia Labs require clarification to ensure accountability.
5. Unsubstantiated Metrics and Commercial Dependencies: Performance claims such as "10,000+ TPS" are presented without concrete benchmarking data or baseline metrics. Furthermore, the proposal relies heavily on specific commercial partners (like Delta DeFi and Masumi) continuing to build, without providing contingency plans. Ideally, commercial entities utilizing the stack for enterprise applications should contribute to the hardening of the infrastructure they rely upon.

Conclusion

The Cardano Foundation votes ABSTAIN. We appreciate the dialogue with IOG on this proposal which contributed to our voting decision. We value the technical ambition of this initiative and respect the engineering teams involved, but we cannot support this proposal in its current state without proper budget breakdowns, clarity on IP, and clear accountability for past milestones. If this proposal does not reach the required approval threshold, we ask the proposers to refine and resubmit their initiative.

102. IO - Cardano High Assurance Technical Collaboration

Summary

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. Automating formal verification is a strategic public good that reinforces network security. Despite significant concerns regarding budget opacity and adoption risks, the ecosystem benefits outweigh the reservations.

Rationale Statement

We support this proposal because it aligns with Cardano's core value proposition of security, correctness, and determinism. Our YES vote is grounded in the following primary drivers:

1. Strategic Digital Trust Infrastructure: Cardano’s underlying smart contract model, based on Lambda calculus and determinism, is uniquely positioned for formal mathematical verification. Recent high-profile vulnerabilities in EVM-based DeFi protocols, such as the ~$300M Kelp DAO exploit, highlight that verifiable security is a strict prerequisite for institutional adoption. This enables a shift away from high-risk environments toward highly secure, institutional-grade DeFi applications.
2. Universal Ecosystem Support via UPLC: The proposed automated verification tool, Blaster, operates directly on Untyped Plutus Core (UPLC). This architectural choice is strategic, as it avoids siloed development and simultaneously supports developers across the ecosystem, regardless of whether they write in Aiken, Plutus, or other high-level smart contract languages.
3. Lowering the Barrier to Entry: Historically, formal verification has been restricted to specialized experts. By providing a Lean4-based verification enabler, integrating it directly into native toolchains (e.g., VS Code), and offering extended "one-click" containerized developer environments, this initiative significantly democratizes access to production-ready, secure smart contract development.
4. AI-Agentic Workflow Readiness: As software engineering transitions toward AI-assisted development, the emphasis on robust Command Line Interfaces (CLIs) within this proposal provides a strong, secure foundation for future integration with autonomous AI agents, ensuring Cardano's toolchain remains forward-looking.
5. Reusable and Auditable Components: The initiative focuses on d

While we appreciate Harmonic Laboratories and the unbundling of this initiative, the $1.15M ask for a browser-based node currently lacks broad market validation, faces significant technical constraints, requires more rigorous acceptance criteria, and is missing key architectural design decisions.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

Our assessment team and internal Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) have thoroughly reviewed this proposal. While the concept of a trustless browser node is innovative and conceptually intriguing, we are unable to support this treasury withdrawal due to the combination of the following considerations:

1. Lack of Market Validation: We are concerned about the potential traction for Gerolamo. While it is a fascinating tool, it currently appears tailored to a relatively niche audience, which does not yet justify a treasury expenditure of this scale. We respectfully suggest that an idea like this might be better suited for initial bootstrapping. If the broader market and user base demonstrate strong demand, it could certainly be reconsidered in the future.
2. Significant Technical Constraints: The technical feasibility of running a fully validating node within a browser presents notable challenges. Managing the Cardano Ledger State via IndexedDB is highly ambitious given that modern browsers restrict local storage, which introduces risks of performance degradation or data eviction over time. Furthermore, an independent review of the current public repositories suggests the codebase currently defers intricate calculations to centralized infrastructure (like Blockfrost) rather than executing true local ledger management. This draws into question the core premise of a fully trustless node.
3. Refining Acceptance Criteria: The current milestones define "production readiness" primarily through connectivity metrics (e.g., syncing to tip). While important, we believe a production-ready validating node requires more comprehensive benchmarks. We strongly encourage the inclusion of rigorous, property-based conformance testing or differential testing against the core node to mathematically guarantee the correctness of ledger validation.
4. Missing Architectural Design Decisions: The proposal would greatly benefit from a more robust and detailed architectural blueprint. Given the well-documented limitations of browser environments, we would need a clearer technical explanation of exactly how Gerolamo will sustainably navigate these resource constraints during extended use to ensure long-term stability and reliability.
5. Budget Transparency and Efficiency: The proposal requests 5 Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs) structured as a lumped sum of $200k/FTE, plus a 15% contingency, totaling $1.15M. For a project that is “mostly done” as written in the proposal, with only limited API integration work and packaging remaining, we struggle to justify the requested amount. We also note that Harmonic Laboratories was already funded in 2025 through the Intersect budget administration process to deliver a “fully functional light node that can run in the browser.” An additional treasury request of $1.15M for what seems to be a continuation of that workstream at substantially higher FTE rates is not something we can support.

The Cardano Foundation votes NO for this proposal. We respect the HLabs team and their ongoing contributions to the ecosystem. However, due to the need for initial market validation, significant technical constraints, questions around budgeting, and the need for more defined acceptance criteria, we cannot support this treasury funding commitment.

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NOTE on 'Internal Voting':
The fields constitutional and unconstitutional below reflect the CF governance teams' individual opinions whether they are for or against the proposal. Reason for this inconsistency is, that CIP-136 is at the moment only applicable to CC rationales, but we want to record the internal opinions of our DRep assessment transparently as well.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. We support Pebble and important TypeScript library maintenance, however we urge the team to increase the length of this proposal and use these funds for at least 24 months, rather than the 12 months originally foreseen.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

We appreciate Harmonic Laboratories responding to our previous feedback by separating this valuable developer tooling from the ambitious browser node initiative. We are voting YES based on the following strategic alignments, guided by important financial parameters:

1. Strategic Developer Onboarding: The Cardano ecosystem currently lacks a production-ready imperative smart contract language. Pebble’s TypeScript-inspired syntax serves as a bridge for the global pool of Web2 (JS/TS) and EVM (Solidity) developers. While functional programming (like Aiken) is excellent for specific developer profiles, Pebble lowers the barrier to entry for the broader market without sacrificing UPLC performance.

2. Important Infrastructure Maintenance: Funding the maintenance of the HLabs TypeScript stack (cardano-ledger-ts, plutus-machine, etc.) is important public good infrastructure. Major ecosystem tools, including Mesh and Lucid Evolution, depend on these libraries being updated for upcoming intra-era hard forks. Ensuring this stack remains stable is vital for ecosystem continuity.

3. Budget Reframe: The 24–36 Month Runway Caveat: Our primary concern involves the financial proportionality of the request. A $1.15M (₳4.6M) request for 5 FTEs plus contingency over a 12-month period is substantial, especially given historical contribution patterns that reflect a very lean core team. Our Subject Matter Experts noted that a $500,000 ask from Pebble would align more closely with standard 12-month costs.

Therefore, our YES vote is cast with the recommendation that this $1.15M budget be stretched to cover a 24-month (at least) maintenance horizon. We wish to make this clear now so that future maintenance funding requests will be informed by this viewpoint and can provide an explanation should additional funds be needed within 24 months. By viewing this as a multi-year runway, it factors in the long-term, ongoing maintenance of Pebble and the important TS libraries.

4. Transparency and Oversight: While we commend the use of the SundaeLabs treasury contract and the independent oversight committee, we note that the specific budgetary breakdown and justification for the 5 FTEs could benefit from additional clarity. We also strongly encourage the team to provide increasingly granular and transparent financial reporting for any future funding requests.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. We support the expansion of Cardano's smart contract paradigms and the maintenance of important TypeScript libraries.

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NOTE on 'Internal Voting':
The fields constitutional and unconstitutional below reflect the CF governance teams' individual opinions whether they are for or against the proposal. Reason for this inconsistency is, that CIP-136 is at the moment only applicable to CC rationales, but we want to record the internal opinions of our DRep assessment transparently as well.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES on both the Baseline 'Platinum' Sponsorship and the Top-Up 'Title' Sponsorship Upgrade. This proposal provides important visibility at TOKEN2049 Singapore and ensures Cardano achieves significant reach in the Asian market.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

Securing a sponsorship at TOKEN2049 is an important opportunity to promote Cardano’s visibility, extend its reach and provide a critical platform for ecosystem builders. As with the Summit, this proposal represents a counter-cyclical investment which we believe will support Cardano’s momentum. This proposal has been evaluated together with the complementary proposal for the 'Title' sponsorship at TOKEN2049:

1. The Baseline 'Platinum' Sponsorship: Establishing a footprint at the largest industry event of 2026 ensures Cardano remains visible and highly competitive in the Web3 market. Covering 30 conference tickets and providing exhibition space for community projects empowers the teams building the network to represent Cardano directly to institutional audiences.

2. The Top-Up 'Title' Upgrade: We maintain our strong conviction in the Title sponsorship’s strategic value. Upgrading to the Title tier unlocks a Mainstage Keynote and guaranteed premium media reach, giving Cardano access to a completely different level of exposure. We believe that going "all in" on this event is a net-positive that maximizes the treasury's return on investment.

Budget and Execution: Although the unbundled cost includes new administrative fees for Intersect, this decentralized setup supports transparency and accountability. We find this slightly higher overall cost acceptable, especially given the proportional reduction in other management fees.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES on these proposals.

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NOTE on 'Internal Voting':
The fields constitutional and unconstitutional below reflect the CF governance teams' individual opinions whether they are for or against the proposal. Reason for this inconsistency is, that CIP-136 is at the moment only applicable to CC rationales, but we want to record the internal opinions of our DRep assessment transparently as well.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES on both the Baseline 'Platinum' Sponsorship and the Top-Up 'Title' Sponsorship Upgrade. This proposal provides important visibility at TOKEN2049 Singapore and ensures Cardano achieves significant reach in the Asian market.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

Securing a sponsorship at TOKEN2049 is an important opportunity to promote Cardano’s visibility, extend its reach and provide a critical platform for ecosystem builders. As with the Summit, this proposal represents a counter-cyclical investment which we believe will support Cardano’s momentum. This proposal has been evaluated together with the complementary proposal for the 'Title' sponsorship at TOKEN2049:

1. The Baseline 'Platinum' Sponsorship: Establishing a footprint at the largest industry event of 2026 ensures Cardano remains visible and highly competitive in the Web3 market. Covering 30 conference tickets and providing exhibition space for community projects empowers the teams building the network to represent Cardano directly to institutional audiences.

2. The Top-Up 'Title' Upgrade: We maintain our strong conviction in the Title sponsorship’s strategic value. Upgrading to the Title tier unlocks a Mainstage Keynote and guaranteed premium media reach, giving Cardano access to a completely different level of exposure. We believe that going "all in" on this event is a net-positive that maximizes the treasury's return on investment.

Budget and Execution: Although the unbundled cost includes new administrative fees for Intersect, this decentralized setup supports transparency and accountability. We find this slightly higher overall cost acceptable, especially given the proportional reduction in other management fees.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES on these proposals.

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NOTE on 'Internal Voting':
The fields constitutional and unconstitutional below reflect the CF governance teams' individual opinions whether they are for or against the proposal. Reason for this inconsistency is, that CIP-136 is at the moment only applicable to CC rationales, but we want to record the internal opinions of our DRep assessment transparently as well.

The Cardano Foundation is voting ABSTAIN on this proposal.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

The Cardano Foundation has submitted this revised Cardano Summit 2026 proposal in direct response to significant community feedback and input. It is clear that we did not sufficiently engage with the Community on this topic prior to the first proposal. We continue to believe in the strategic value and the leaner, optimized budget of this revised Cardano Summit.

However, in light of the significant community feedback and as a signal that we continually strive to improve our engagement with the community, we feel that it is appropriate to ABSTAIN on this proposal, so that the community can independently direct its course.

This abstention is a reflection of the unique history of this specific proposal. It is not a precedent for how the Cardano Foundation will vote on any future proposals. We will continue to vote on any proposal based on the principles set out in “Our Cardano” and what we believe is in the best interests of Cardano and its ecosystem.

The Cardano Foundation is voting ABSTAIN on this proposal.

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NOTE on 'Internal Voting':
The fields constitutional and unconstitutional below reflect the CF governance teams' individual opinions whether they are for or against the proposal. Reason for this inconsistency is, that CIP-136 is at the moment only applicable to CC rationales, but we want to record the internal opinions of our DRep assessment transparently as well.

The Cardano Foundation is voting ABSTAIN on this proposal.

The decision to vote ABSTAIN follows the submission of a revised treasury withdrawal for the Cardano Summit 2026, which is now available on-chain under Governance Action ID: gov_action10dp9wzmgt2nqshyrghufff4sfhcxedhmzluly5k0azguatnsthwqqs84cjf.

We highly value the Harmonic Laboratories team and believe the proposal makes a strong case for Pebble & tooling, but the combined proposal's costs and uncertain practical value of the Gerolamo browser node prevent our approval. We highly encourage a leaner withdrawal specifically for Pebble.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

The Cardano Foundation recognizes Harmonic Laboratories (HLabs) as a dedicated and highly skilled team that has consistently delivered value to the Cardano ecosystem. However, after extensive review by our Governance Advisory Team and internal Subject Matter Experts, we are unable to support the entirety of this proposal.

Our decision is driven by the following factors:

1. Strong Support for Pebble & Maintenance: We see strategic value in Pebble. The roadmap for this workstream is plausible, realistic, and contains explicit features and targets. An imperative, TypeScript-inspired language that compiles to highly optimized UPLC is an ideal "gateway" to attract the millions of global Web2 developers to Cardano. We also view the ongoing hard-fork maintenance of critical TS libraries (cardano-ledger-ts, plutus-machine) as essential public good infrastructure.

2. Concerns Regarding Gerolamo (Browser Node): While the concept of a browser-based node is technically interesting, there is significant skepticism regarding its practical utility and user adoption. Furthermore, our technical reviewers found the milestones somewhat vague, with subtle, unclear differences among phases (e.g., "syncs to tip" vs. "server-side relay syncs" vs. "reaches a 'trustless' tip"). Most critically, the defined "production-readiness" criteria focus almost exclusively on syncing and connectivity. Syncing with public networks is simply not sufficient to constitute a production node; the criteria completely miss rigorous testing for correctness and strict conformance with other nodes.

3. Budget Efficiency & Retrospective Contradictions: The total ask of 10 FTEs (valued at $225,000 per FTE annually) appears high for the proposed scope. Our review of the team's 2025 retrospective indicates that much of Gerolamo is already "mostly done" and Pebble is essentially presented as a working product. Requesting a 10 FTE budget for what appears to be finishing touches and maintenance, while pricing the workstreams entirely separately despite likely being covered by the same small team, is something we believe merits further optimization or explanation, if the cost is otherwise justified.

4. Contingency Buffer: Adding a flat 25% contingency buffer on top of an already significant 10-FTE baseline effectively locks up an additional ~1.6 million ADA. We believe this buffer is larger than necessary for the proposed scope.

Recommendation for a Revised Proposal

We do not want to see the momentum behind Pebble stall. We strongly encourage HLabs to unbundle this proposal and submit a separate, highly focused Treasury Withdrawal exclusively for Pebble and the ongoing TypeScript tooling maintenance.

We commend HLabs for their ongoing commitment to the ecosystem, but we urge them to return with a leaner, unbundled proposal focused on the high-value developer onboarding tools.

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NOTE on 'Internal Voting':
The fields constitutional and unconstitutional below reflect the CF governance teams' individual opinions whether they are for or against the proposal. Reason for this inconsistency is, that CIP-136 is at the moment only applicable to CC rationales, but we want to record the internal opinions of our DRep assessment transparently as well.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. We believe that CF’s appointment as the managing entity of Catalyst Foundation Company will ensure operational continuity for Project Catalyst Funds 10-14 and facilitate the return of Funds 15-16 to the Treasury.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

Our support for this Info Action is driven by the factors mentioned in the Info Action itself, concerning the full and effective transition of Project Catalyst operations and responsibilities from IOG to CF in accordance with the statutes of the Catalyst Foundation Company (CFC). We note that this Info Action has already passed the required 50% DRep approval threshold at the time of our voting, and we are pleased to have received this approval to proceed with the outlined course of action.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES.

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> **_NOTE on 'Internal Voting':_**

> The fields _constitutional_ and _unconstitutional_ below reflect the CF governance teams' individual opinions whether they are _for_ or _against_ the proposal. Reason for this inconsistency is, that CIP-136 is at the moment only applicable to CC rationales, but we want to record the internal opinions of our DRep assessment transparently as well.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. Node diversity is critical for network resilience. Funding a Go-based node (Dingo) alongside Haskell and Rust implementations will foster a highly secure, multi-client ecosystem.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

Our support for this proposal is driven by the following key factors:

• Strategic Value of a "Go" Node: Beyond pure diversity, Go (Golang) is one of the industry standards for high-performance blockchain infrastructure (e.g., Ethereum's Geth). By funding a production-grade Go node, Cardano opens its core infrastructure to an ecosystem of over 5 million Go developers. This significantly lowers the barrier to entry for enterprise integrations and cloud-native deployments.

• Proven Delivery & Ecosystem Contribution: Blink Labs is an established participant within Cardano's open-source ecosystem. The team has either built or contributed to multiple projects (gOuroboros, Plutigo, Adder) and has a track record of delivering high-quality code. Additionally, their progress on Dingo is already measurable.

• Ada price: We commend Blink Labs for pricing their ada request at a realistic, near-market rate of $0.30/ada, rather than the artificially high rates seen in other proposals. This is realistic budgeting and sets a standard.

• Accountability & Oversight: The use of milestone-based disbursements signed off by an independent, three-person oversight board (Pi Lanningham, Santiago Carmuega, Lucas Rosa), who hold no stake in Blink Labs and possess the power to halt funding, provides strong downside protection for the Treasury while delivery is ongoing.

Constructive Feedback & Expectations

While we fully support this withdrawal, we note a few areas for improvement and future clarification:

• Audit Scope & Quotes: While we fully-agree that a top-tier security audit before mainnet deployment is necessary, $500,000 is at the top end of the market. We strongly recommend that the team obtain competitive quotes and publish the audit's scope of work. Ideally, any excess funding from this line item will be returned to the treasury via the failsafe sweep.

• Cost Synergies on Leios: The proposal notes that the CIP-0164 Linear Leios prototype will be built in parallel with IO Engineering. If there are shared learnings or parallel development efforts occurring, we expect the team to clarify the commercial relationship and leverage these synergies to ensure cost and time efficiencies for the Go implementation.

• Proposal Discussion: Earlier DRep engagement and discussion in public forums such as the Cardano Forum can help improve community alignment with a proposal. This is purely an observation and a suggestion for future proposals to be as well-received as possible, as the circumstances of proposals can differ.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. Funding Dingo is a strategic investment in Cardano's operational resiliency and developer accessibility, moving the network toward the multi-client gold standard.

---

NOTE on 'Internal Voting':
The fields constitutional and unconstitutional below reflect the CF governance teams' individual opinions whether they are for or against the proposal. Reason for this inconsistency is, that CIP-136 is at the moment only applicable to CC rationales, but we want to record the internal opinions of our DRep assessment transparently as well.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. We support this legal and technical setup and commend the staged budgeting. However, we strongly urge the resolution of outstanding transparency, operational, and security concerns prior to the subsequent 50M ada withdrawal.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

Our support for this Treasury Withdrawal is based on the following factors:

1. Staged Approach & Fiscal Prudence: We appreciate the proposers for staging this withdrawal. Requesting a smaller initial tranche (800,000 ada) to establish the necessary legal and technical guardrails before managing a 50,000,000 ada budget is a responsible approach to treasury management.

2. Legal Appropriateness: Establishing a Cayman Islands Foundation Company is viewed as an appropriate and justified setup for this type of ecosystem initiative. Budget Accuracy & Adjustments: We appreciate that the proposers have adjusted the requested ada amount to reflect a more realistic market exchange rate ($0.25/ADA) compared to the high rate ($0.40/ADA) used in previous budget projections.

3. Ecosystem Collaboration: Securing the development of the smart contract interface at no cost from UTxO Company and Sidan Labs demonstrates strong ecosystem alignment and "skin in the game."

While the proposers have delivered what they outlined for this preliminary step, we reiterate the outstanding requirements and recommendations established during our review of the initial Budget Info Action and previous withdrawal attempts. We request that the proposers address the following either within or before submitting the subsequent, larger treasury withdrawal:

• Transparency & Reporting: We strongly advocate implementing a public dashboard to track rewards and liquidity positions in real-time.

• Deployment Selection Criteria: Further information and clarity are needed regarding the specific deployment selection criteria and strategy for the 50M ada.

• Conflict of Interest (COI): The COI policy should be expanded to include the Directors of the legal vehicle (the Cayman Foundation Company).
  Relevant disclosures and committee decisions (redacted for personal information) must be available to the community.

• Operational Clarity: Further definition is needed regarding committee election mechanisms, rotation, and definitive wind-down plans for un-allocating the funds.

• Fiscal Accountability: The committee compensation model requires adjustment to ensure "Proof of Contribution" rather than fixed sum salaries.

• Security & Audits: While we approve the 111,000 ada allocation for the Invariant0 LLC audit, we believe it is prudent that the committee pursue a secondary, independent smart contract audit funded from the operational budget of Withdrawal 2. Given the substantial amount of treasury funds (50,000,000 ada) this contract will eventually manage, an additional layer of security review is highly appropriate.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. We view this withdrawal as a suitable step to responsibly activate the DeFi Liquidity Budget, while emphasizing the need for future withdrawals to include enhanced transparency, refined eligibility criteria, and robust reporting standards.

---

NOTE on 'Internal Voting':
The fields constitutional and unconstitutional below reflect the CF governance teams' individual opinions whether they are for or against the proposal. Reason for this inconsistency is, that CIP-136 is at the moment only applicable to CC rationales, but we want to record the internal opinions of our DRep assessment transparently as well.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. This framework improves treasury management via strategic alignment, work package-based budgeting, and anti-spam measures, though we note areas for future refinement like dynamic fees.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

Our support for this proposal is driven by the following key factors:

1. Strategic Alignment & ROI Focus: We support the requirement for vendors to anchor their proposals to the Cardano 2030 Strategic Pillars and ecosystem KPIs. Moving to work package-based budgeting allows DReps to compare expected outcomes directly, establishing a much-needed foundation for assessing the actual ROI of treasury expenditures.

2. Process Mechanics & Spam Prevention: Establishing a 1,000 ada donation and a 100,000 ada minimum threshold are positive steps to deter low-effort submissions. The Cardano Treasury is not a generalized grant vehicle for small-scale projects, and these measures help focus the process on strategically meaningful initiatives. However, we caution that a static minimum threshold risks artificially inflating project costs, as teams may pad proposals to reach the 100k mark. In future iterations, we advocate for a dynamic fee structure which scales fees in proportion to the withdrawal request (e.g., scaling from 1,000 ada up to 100,000 ada or 1% of the total ask) to ensure larger entities also bear a proportionate burden.

3. Pragmatic NCL Management: The framework introduces a pragmatic approach to managing the Net Change Limit (NCL) by allowing lower-ranked proposals to proceed when a higher-ranked proposal exceeds the Cardano Treasury's remaining spending limit. While we support this practical approach, we urge Intersect to define clear procedures for evaluating when and how the overall NCL should be increased to capture exceptional ecosystem opportunities that arise throughout the year.

4. Administration & Decentralization: While the use of milestone-based smart contracts and Ekklesia polling improves transparency, we remain cautious about the centralization of administrative duties. We do not want to imply that this framework is the only way the community can request funding from the treasury. By now, it has been very much established that anyone can propose a direct treasury withdrawal independently of Intersect. A comprehensive post-mortem of the 2025 cycle remains necessary to fully evaluate Intersect’s administrative effectiveness.

Recommended Improvements for Future Iterations

To further improve this process in 2027 and beyond, our team recommends the following:

1. "RFP-ication" of the Budget: Instead of open-ended proposals, the ecosystem should move toward defining clear yearly goals via Info Actions and issue Requests for Proposals (RFPs), along with predefined categorical allocations (e.g., specific budget percentages for infrastructure, dApps, or marketing). This will drive market competition and maximize treasury efficiency.
2. SME Support for DReps: Evaluating highly technical proposals can overwhelm DReps. Future processes must incorporate neutral Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to provide objective feasibility and cost assessments based on industry standards, ensuring DReps have a strong support structure when voting. DReps are the decision-makers for Cardano, but they require support in making informed decisions.
3. Opening the Budget Cycle Earlier: The budget cycle should begin earlier, to allow for subsequent years to be planned with sufficient advance.

Disclosure of Oversight Role

The Cardano Foundation is one of the five members of the Oversight Committee (OC) for this budget process. We wish to highlight our exact mandate: The Oversight Committee is narrowly responsible for specific data assurance tasks as described below. All other permissions regarding any smart contracts and their functions are and will continue to be held by Intersect at all times.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. This framework is a coherent evolution from the previous cycle that builds upon existing governance infrastructure to bring greater accountability and predictability to the Cardano ecosystem. The Cardano Foundation is proud to have contributed directly to the design of this framework alongside the budget committee, and we look forward to seeing it implemented, and to seeing it evolve further in years to come.

---

NOTE on 'Internal Voting':
The fields constitutional and unconstitutional below reflect the CF governance teams' individual opinions whether they are for or against the proposal. Reason for this inconsistency is, that CIP-136 is at the moment only applicable to CC rationales, but we want to record the internal opinions of our DRep assessment transparently as well.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES on the Treasury Withdrawal “Cardano x Draper Dragon: Orion Fund.”

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

Our support for this Treasury Withdrawal is driven by the following key factors:

1. Strategic Ecosystem Growth & The Post-Grant Gap: This proposal addresses the "post-grant capital gap." While mechanisms like Project Catalyst exist to cater to early experimentation, Cardano needs a structured pathway for equity-based growth capital. Partnering with a Tier-1 VC like Draper Dragon provides immediate access to capabilities that would otherwise take a decade of institutional development to build internally: UTXO-specific technical expertise, deep exchange-integration networks (Coinbase, Binance, etc.), and a global developer pipeline to achieve their stated goal of 7x monthly active developer growth.

2. Downside Protection (The 80/20 Waterfall): This is one of the few proposals that actively seeks to grow the Treasury. The economic alignment is strongly in favor of the community: 90% of the funds are deployed into the ecosystem, while approximately 10% covers operational expenses (dependent on total fund size) - which includes a discounted 1.3% management fee. Crucially, the General Partner (Draper Dragon) receives no profit share until Treasury contributions are recouped.

3. Tranche-Based Accountability: We agree with the rationale that the tranche-based architecture serves as the primary mechanism for setting milestones. Requesting $15M (50M ADA) now rather than the full $75M upfront is responsible governance. It establishes Tranche One as a significant yet minimum viable commitment to prove the model, establish transparency frameworks, and deliver observable ecosystem impact before future tranches are released by DReps. The DReps retain a veto at every capital release point.

4. Cost Efficiency: A ~1.3% management fee on Tranche 1 is competitive and well below the traditional 2% venture capital industry standard, ensuring that the majority of funds ($13.65M) are directed straight to ecosystem growth (Direct Investments, the venture studio, and Draper accelerators).

Disclosure of Conflict of Interest & Involvement: To maintain transparency as a DRep, we need to disclose our involvement in the structuring of this proposal. We worked closely with the Draper Dragon team to orchestrate the setup of Arouet Holdings (the Cayman Islands Foundation Company acting as the LP of the Fund, the legal counterparty capable of making the contribution to the Fund from the Treasury withdrawal) and serve as the constitutional administrator. Despite our operational involvement, we are voting YES because we firmly believe this proposal provides a sustainable and innovative model to stimulate ecosystem growth and deliver returns to the Treasury.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. The Orion Fund is a testament to Cardano's maturity, and it sends a signal to the wider blockchain ecosystem that the fundamentals of a decentralized blockchain and governance model can seamlessly interface with top-tier institutional venture capital to create sustainable growth.

---

NOTE on 'Internal Voting':
The fields constitutional and unconstitutional below reflect the CF governance teams' individual opinions whether they are for or against the proposal. Reason for this inconsistency is, that CIP-136 is at the moment only applicable to CC rationales, but we want to record the internal opinions of our DRep assessment transparently as well.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES on this treasury withdrawal. Amaru advances Cardano 2030's node diversity goals. The team has a proven delivery record and set a benchmark by returning over 920,000 unspent ada.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

Our support for this proposal is driven by the following key factors:

• Strategic Value & Node Diversity: Achieving client diversity is a cornerstone of network resilience and a key pillar of "Our Cardano." Funding the continued development of Amaru, a Rust-based node, provides a vital secondary perspective on the protocol. As noted in their retrospective, their work has already uncovered bugs that could have impacted Mainnet. This alone validates the need for a second-node implementation.

• High Standard of Withdrawal Management: The Amaru maintainer committee returned over 920.4K ada in excess funding to the Cardano Treasury at the close of their 2025 budget. In an ecosystem with constraints like the Net Change Limit, voluntarily returning unused funds rather than artificially spending them sets a benchmark for integrity. Furthermore, their use of audited smart contracts and public financial journals ensures a high standard of traceability that all treasury-funded projects should emulate.

• Roadmap Adjustments & Execution: We are comfortable with the roadmap adjustments made in 2025 (delaying P2P and mempool work to ensure ledger and consensus stability). The team has demonstrated they can build complex, functional software. We support this funding with the clear expectation that they will deliver the relay node wrap-up in Q1 2026 and achieve block production capabilities by Q2 2026 as outlined.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. Building an alternative node is an expensive and highly complex endeavor, but it is necessary for Cardano's long-term security and success. The Amaru team has the technical capability to deliver and the financial integrity to manage a budget of this magnitude responsibly.

---

NOTE on 'Internal Voting':
The fields constitutional and unconstitutional below reflect the CF governance teams' individual opinions whether they are for or against the proposal. Reason for this inconsistency is, that CIP-136 is at the moment only applicable to CC rationales, but we want to record the internal opinions of our DRep assessment transparently as well.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. The proposed 300M ada limit falls within our margin of acceptance, as it roughly matches 2025 treasury inflows.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

Our support for this NCL is driven by the following key factors:

• Fiscal Conservatism & Alignment with Inflows: The 300M ada figure closely matches the actual treasury inflows observed in 2025 (~306.9M ada). Given that the ecosystem ran a deficit in the 2025 NCL cycle, a tighter constraint for 2026 is acceptable. Furthermore, many of the treasury withdrawals approved in 2025 have not yet fully resolved core base-layer bottlenecks (such as TPS, finality, and throughput). We believe a more conservative spending ceiling ensures that future funding is prioritized effectively.

• Strategic Realignment of the Budget Cycle: This proposal successfully retains the ~16.5-month timeline (Epoch 613–713). This permanently shifts the budgeting cycle away from the end-of-year holiday season to a mid-year schedule, which is expected to improve governance participation.

• Constitutional Clarity: We maintain that the current 350M ada NCL (Epochs 613–713) is constitutionally valid per the language and requirements of the Constitution, however if the CC votes in the affirmative for this NCL, it will help reduce uncertainty as to whether there is a valid NCL. We urge CC members to clarify whether a CC vote is necessary for an NCL, in their opinion, or not.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. Our support is based on maintaining the stability of the treasury. We encourage the community and future proposers to view this NCL as a hard ceiling, not a spending goal, and to keep demanding thorough reporting on the effectiveness of all treasury withdrawals.

---

NOTE on 'Internal Voting':
The fields constitutional and unconstitutional below reflect the CF governance teams' individual opinions whether they are for or against the proposal. Reason for this inconsistency is, that CIP-136 is at the moment only applicable to CC rationales, but we want to record the internal opinions of our DRep assessment transparently as well.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES on this Parameter Change. While acknowledging a technical conflict with another Parameter Change, we support reducing the minimum committee size to 5. This change provides a buffer against governance stalls caused by member resignations or removals.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

Establishing a minimum Constitutional Committee size of 5 instead of 7 creates a safety margin for operational resilience. This adjustment allows the committee to remain functional even if two members resign unexpectedly, preventing the governance stall experienced in December 2025. This is a practical governance improvement that ensures constitutional necessity and continuity of ecosystem operations. Furthermore, this reduction in minimum size does not change the percentage of the committee required to ratify actions; it simply lowers the floor for what constitutes a valid, active committee.

We also acknowledge a technical "root-reference" conflict because the “Increase Transaction and Block Memory Units (Part 1 of 2)” proposal has already successfully passed. Since every parameter change must reference the hash of the last ratified change, the current proposal will be technically invalidated. Additionally, while 5 is a responsible minimum, it should not be viewed as a target total size. Reducing the active committee to 5 significantly changes the veto delta—the number of dissenting votes required to block an action. Specifically, a committee of 5 requires only 2 dissenting votes to block a Governance Action, whereas a committee of 7 requires 3 dissenting votes. Therefore, we encourage maintaining a Committee size above the minimum in future voting rounds.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. Despite the proposal being invalidated on technical grounds, we vote based on the merit of the change itself. We endorse this reduction to ensure the long-term sustainability of Cardano governance, while maintaining that the actual committee size should ideally remain higher to preserve a robust veto threshold.

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NOTE on 'Internal Voting':
The fields constitutional and unconstitutional below reflect the CF governance teams' individual opinions whether they are for or against the proposal. Reason for this inconsistency is, that CIP-136 is at the moment only applicable to CC rationales, but we want to record the internal opinions of our DRep assessment transparently as well.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES on the first TW for the establishment of the project’s legal framework and smart contract infrastructure. We commend the team’s disclosure of their risk management policies and recommend further refinements in transparency and reporting before subsequent withdrawals.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

Our support for this Treasury Withdrawal is based on the following factors:

• Improved Risk Mitigation: Proposers have demonstrated a willingness to incorporate community feedback, specifically regarding "what-if" scenarios, pro/con analyses for DeFi protocols, and deployment principles designed to minimize liquidity shocks.

• Legal Appropriateness: The legal structure established within the Cayman Islands is viewed as an appropriate and justified setup for this type of ecosystem initiative.

• Balanced Guiding Principles: The four pillars of the framework - Public Good Orientation, Open Source & Composability, Decentralization, and Risk-Adjusted Returns - are well-balanced and strategically sound.

While we are voting YES on this initial withdrawal, we recommend that the following concerns be addressed in the subsequent treasury withdrawals:

• Transparency & Reporting: We advocate for a public dashboard to track rewards and liquidity positions in real-time.

• Conflict of Interest (COI): The COI policy should be expanded to include the Directors of the legal vehicle. Relevant disclosures and committee decisions (redacted for personal information) should be available to the community.

• Operational Clarity: Further definition is needed regarding committee election mechanisms, rotation, and wind-down plans for un-allocating the funds.

• Fiscal Accountability: The committee compensation model requires adjustment to ensure "Proof of Contribution" rather than fixed sums.

• Calculations Accuracy: The current 0.4$ ADA price used for budget projections is significantly above the market exchange rate. Future proposals must use augmented and data-backed market rates or provide contingencies for a fluctuating ADA price.

We request that the proposers take these recommendations into account in subsequent treasury withdrawals.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. We view this withdrawal as a necessary step to activate the DeFi Liquidity Budget while emphasizing the need for future withdrawals to contain enhanced transparency, refined eligibility criteria, and more robust reporting standards.

---

NOTE on 'Internal Voting':
The fields constitutional and unconstitutional below reflect the CF governance teams' individual opinions whether they are for or against the proposal. Reason for this inconsistency is, that CIP-136 is at the moment only applicable to CC rationales, but we want to record the internal opinions of our DRep assessment transparently as well.

The Cardano Foundation, as a DRep, votes YES. This Net Change Limit ensures operational continuity, strategically realigns the budget cycle to mid-year, and sets a 350 million ada ceiling.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

We are supporting this proposal based on the following factors:

• Operational Continuity & Constitutional Necessity: Establishing a valid Net Change Limit (NCL) is a constitutional prerequisite for processing any treasury withdrawals. Without this ratification, legitimate funding for ecosystem maintenance and growth would be blocked after Epoch 612 (13 February 2026).
• Strategic Realignment of the Budget Cycle: We endorse extending the NCL period to July 2027 (approx. 16.5 months). This shift corrects the "governance calendar" friction, moving critical budget votes away from the end-of-year holiday season to a mid-year cycle where participation is naturally higher. This is a practical governance improvement.
• Fiscal Prudence & Continuity of Commitments: We accept the limit of 350 million ada as data-backed and responsible. This figure accounts for the ~306M ADA inflow observed in 2025 while effectively "carrying over" the authority for the previously approved, but unspent, 50M ada Stablecoin Liquidity budget. By incorporating these prior commitments, the NCL serves as a bridge that respects the DReps’ decision as expressed in 2025. Furthermore, extending the 350M cap over a longer 16.5-month period effectively reduces the annualized spending ceiling compared to the previous year.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. Our support is based on maintaining the stability of the treasury and ensuring the continuity of ecosystem operations. We encourage the community and future proposers to view this NCL as a hard ceiling, not a spending goal, and to keep demanding thorough reporting on the effectiveness of all treasury withdrawals.

---

NOTE on 'Internal Voting':
The fields constitutional and unconstitutional below reflect the CF governance teams' individual opinions whether they are for or against the proposal. Reason for this inconsistency is, that CIP-136 is at the moment only applicable to CC rationales, but we want to record the internal opinions of our DRep assessment transparently as well.

Cardano Foundation votes YES on this governance action. We support this parameter change to improve developer flexibility and network scalability. Benchmarks confirm that the network has sufficient headroom to accommodate these increases without compromising block propagation or security guarantees.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

Our support for this proposal is driven by the following factors:

• Developer Experience & Scalability: Increasing the per-transaction memory limit by ~17.9% and the per-block limit by ~16.1% addresses immediate pain points for developers. It allows for more complex Plutus scripts to run without requiring inefficient workarounds, while maintaining the capacity to fit four maximum-sized transactions per block.

• Technical Validation: We rely on the data provided by the IOE Performance and Tracing team. Detailed benchmarking (on node versions 10.2 and 10.3) indicates that despite the increased memory budget, critical system resources (Kernel RSS, CPU usage) remain stable, and block diffusion remains well within the target of 95% propagation within 5 seconds.

• Process & Guardrail Compliance: This proposal is the result of over a year of analysis by the Intersect Parameter Committee. We specifically point to the "Part 1 of 2" implementation strategy in this instance because it is required by the Constitutional Guardrails (specifically MTEU-M-04), which limit the maximum increase per epoch. In general, we advocate for bundling parameter changes to minimize the frequency of governance actions requiring Stake Pool Operator (SPO) votes, thereby reducing their operational burden.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. This update represents a technically sound, data-backed optimization of the network's parameters. It unlocks necessary capacity for the ecosystem while adhering to established safety guardrails.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. We support this proposal to advance Hydra-based trading infrastructure. By funding an experienced team to deliver a production-ready L2 exchange, we believe this proposal will validate Hydra's utility for DeFi and improve Cardano’s scaling capabilities.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

Our support for this proposal is driven by the following key factors:

1. Advancing Hydra Infrastructure: Hydra is an important building block of Cardano's scaling strategy, yet it currently lacks sufficient consumer-grade applications. We believe DeltaDeFi offers a tangible opportunity to validate Layer 2 scaling for DeFi. Supporting this initiative is not merely funding a DApp; it is a strategic investment in hardening the underlying Hydra infrastructure to meet the ecosystem's 2026/2027 scaling objectives.
2. Supporting Proven Builders: The team behind DeltaDeFi (SIDAN Lab) has a verifiable track record of delivery, most notably with MeshJS and other open-source contributions. We believe it is important to retain and empower established teams who actively build and maintain core developer tooling. We view the deliverables here as a potential reference implementation for future L2 order-book exchanges, setting a standard for others to follow.
3. Accountability via KPIs: We commend the team for structuring their proposal around clear, measurable Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). This data-driven approach to accountability, tracking specific metrics like TVL, volume, and L2 transaction efficiency, is a standard we strongly encourage across the ecosystem.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. We support active builders addressing scaling challenges and expect rigorous execution against the proposed KPIs.

---

> **_NOTE on 'Internal Voting':_**

> The fields _constitutional_ and _unconstitutional_ below reflect the CF governance teams' individual opinions whether they are _for_ or _against_ the proposal. Reason for this inconsistency is, that CIP-136 is at the moment only applicable to CC rationales, but we want to record the internal opinions of our DRep assessment transparently as well.

The Cardano Foundation, as a DRep, votes YES on the Constitution v2.4 Governance Action. This version improves on the current Constitution by incorporating valuable on-chain feedback from the community. It strengthens accountability, improves clarity, and streamlines the governance process.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

Our support for this governance action is based on three key factors:

1. The Compromise: "Ada Owner" vs. "Ada Holder" We view the reversion of the term "ada Holder" to "ada owner" as less precise, as it blurs the distinction between protocol-level access (holding keys) and legal ownership rights. However, we accept this regression to accommodate the concerns of other major stakeholders and unblock the constitutional amendment process.

2. The Improvement: Streamlined Treasury & Governance Efficiency We endorse the removal of the Budget Info Action requirement. This change aligns with our previous assessments (for v2.0 and v2.3), where we advocated for reducing bureaucratic friction. By consolidating the information requirements directly into the Treasury Withdrawal action, we eliminate a redundant administrative step without sacrificing accountability. This streamlining is essential to ensure the treasury can be deployed efficiently to support ecosystem growth and maintenance. Additionally, the new requirement for immutable proposal documents is an important security upgrade that protects the integrity of the governance process.

3. The Continuity: A Maturing Framework This version continues the work of maturing the Constitution from an aspirational document to an enforceable rulebook. The removal of non-binding "expectations" (such as Codes of Conduct) clarifies the document’s purpose: it is a set of hard rules for the ledger, not a social manifesto. This focus on enforceability is a necessary evolution for long-term stability.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. Constitution v2.4 represents a necessary improvement to Cardano’s governance model, with a focus on more efficient, less bureaucratic processes.

---

> **_NOTE on 'Internal Voting':_**

> The fields _constitutional_ and _unconstitutional_ below reflect the CF governance teams' individual opinions whether they are _for_ or _against_ the proposal. Reason for this inconsistency is, that CIP-136 is at the moment only applicable to CC rationales, but we want to record the internal opinions of our DRep assessment transparently as well.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES on this governance action. We view the Cardano 2030 as a useful anchor document for the ecosystem. It provides a shared vision and goals to align collective efforts. It provides a necessary benchmark for assessing future treasury investments.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

The following key factors drive our support for this proposal:

1. Strategic Clarity: We support positioning Cardano as the blockchain for "mission-critical applications" with a focus on security and reliability. This differentiation aligns with the network's technical capabilities and target use cases.

2. Accountability & Measurement: The introduction of specific KPIs (such as TVL and Monthly Active Users) is a necessary step toward accountability. While the target of a 3375% increase in transactions by 2030 is ambitious, it provides a measurable scale for aspirations. To ensure accurate tracking, we specifically call for the use of the new Dune Analytics integrations (funded by the Critical Integrations Budget) to build public dashboards. Rigorous monitoring is essential to verify if current and future initiatives funded via the treasury are effectively driving growth.

3. Process Legitimacy: This proposal is the result of a globally consultative process involving over 700 participants. We contributed to this effort by having Cardano Foundation team members Alexandre Maaza and Giorgio Zinetti serve on the Product Committee, and by providing feedback via our pull request to the Product Committee repository.

4. The Path Forward: This action sets a destination, but the route remains to be defined. The 5 Strategic Pillars are comprehensive yet broad. To prevent resource dilution, the immediate next step is to create a concrete 12–18-month execution roadmap. We recommend that external professionals facilitate this roadmap exercise to ensure structured prioritization and balanced input.

5. Ecosystem Sustainability: We highlight the importance of Pillar 5, which advocates transitioning the treasury from a passive pool to an actively managed resource. Ensuring the network's long-term financial health is essential to fund the innovation required to meet these 2030 goals.

Disclosure of Involvement

Alexandre Maaza and Giorgio Zinetti, Cardano Foundation employees, sit on the Intersect Product Committee, which generated this proposal.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. By ratifying this 2030 Vision, we equip the ecosystem with a strategic framework to focus resources. We look forward to the next phase of defining the execution roadmap.

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> **_NOTE on 'Internal Voting':_**

> The fields _constitutional_ and _unconstitutional_ below reflect the CF governance teams' individual opinions whether they are _for_ or _against_ the proposal. Reason for this inconsistency is, that CIP-136 is at the moment only applicable to CC rationales, but we want to record the internal opinions of our DRep assessment transparently as well.

Max was a much-loved member of the Cardano community, always thoughtful, generous, sharp-minded, and deeply committed to those he worked alongside.

He made significant contributions to the development of Cardano’s constitution and to many of the governance discussions and optimizations that will help shape the network’s future.

Max was integral to the election of the first fully elected Constitutional Committee (CC), serving as both a member and co-lead of the Constitutional Committee Election Working Group.

His impact on the network's founding governance documents was profound; as a delegate representing the Dutch Cardano community at the Constitutional Convention in Buenos Aires, he was one of the primary driving forces behind the inclusion of Article VIII in the Constitution.

Max was a dedicated DRep as a vital part of the Dutch DRep Collective, ensuring the voices of his community were heard. He was also a creative technologist, founding AdaMoments, a project that enabled ada holders to preserve their personal history by storing images, videos, and text as permanent "moments" on the Cardano blockchain. Beyond his own initiatives, Max was deeply committed to the Dutch community, facilitating meetups and connecting people across the ecosystem.

Max’s legacy lives on through the frameworks he helped build and the moments he helped archive.

The Cardano Foundation, as a DRep, votes YES on this NewCommittee governance action. We support this appointment in order to strengthen continuity and operational resilience of the Constitutional Committee.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

The Cardano Foundation recognises that the minimum required size for the Constitutional Committee (CC) is seven members, and that the appointment of Christina Gianelloni would increase the total membership to eight.

We acknowledge that increasing the total CC size to eight members has implications for CC approval thresholds, as the two-thirds majority requirement increases the absolute number of aligned votes needed for CC decisions, from five aligned votes, to six aligned votes, thereby marginally increasing individual members' veto power and may introduce additional coordination challenges, especially in scenarios of lower participation.

Notwithstanding these implications, the Cardano Foundation supports this governance action based on the qualifications of the proposed candidate. Christina Gianelloni brings a strong track record in stewardship, operational leadership, and open-source governance through her roles as COO of Blink Labs and Head of the Board at PRAGMA. Her experience in governance processes is well aligned with the demands of the CC member.

Taking into account both the governance threshold implications and the candidate’s demonstrated qualifications, the Cardano Foundation votes YES on this governance action and supports the appointment of the eighth member of the Constitutional Committee.

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NOTE on 'Internal Voting':
The fields constitutional and unconstitutional below reflect the CF governance teams' individual opinions whether they are for or against the proposal. Reason for this inconsistency is, that CIP-136 is at the moment only applicable to CC rationales, but we want to record the internal opinions of our DRep assessment transparently as well.

The Cardano Foundation, as a DRep, votes YES on this GA. As a member of the Steering Committee, we support this initiative. We view this 70,000,000 ada allocation as a necessary catalyst to integrate Cardano into the wider blockchain economy and secure the network's long-term economic sustainability

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

The rationale statement for this Treasury Withdrawal Governance Action mirrors the one provided for the corresponding Budget Info Action and is included below for community convenience and awareness.

Our support for this proposal is grounded in our strategic vision for Cardano and our commitment to advancing the ecosystem.

1. Strategic Alignment and Roadmap: This workstream complements and aligns with the Cardano Foundation’s new roadmap (https://cardanofoundation.org/blog/cardano-foundation-roadmap) announced in September 2025. In that roadmap, we prioritized "Boosting Cardano DeFi" and "Cardano x Web3" integrations as critical pillars for adoption. This Treasury Withdrawal effectively operationalizes those strategic goals, providing the necessary resources to close the infrastructure gap, specifically regarding stablecoins, oracles, and bridges, that currently limits our capacity in these areas.

2. A Catalyst for Sustainability: We believe this initiative is the trigger needed to transition Cardano from a technically robust network to a commercially thriving one. By onboarding foundational utilities, we unlock the potential for high-volume DeFi and Real World Asset (RWA) applications. This activity is essential for generating the transaction fees required to ensure the long-term economic sustainability of the Cardano treasury and the network as a whole.

3. Governance Mandate: We believe that obtaining a clear mandate from DReps through the associated Budget Info Action and this Treasury Withdrawal Governance Action is the correct governance approach for negotiating and executing these high-stakes integration deals. It respects the community’s role in authorizing strategic direction while allowing the Steering Committee the necessary agility to execute.

4. Collaboration and Accountability: The Cardano Foundation is proud to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Input | Output Global, EMURGO, Intersect, and the Midnight Foundation on this critical mission. We are fully committed to delivering on the goals outlined in this proposal. We will hold ourselves and our fellow Steering Committee members accountable to these shared objectives and expectations, and we invite the community and DReps to hold us accountable as well.

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Disclosure of Involvement

The Cardano Foundation is a member of the Steering Committee and contributor to this proposal. Our vote as a DRep reflects our conviction that this is the right path for Cardano. The Cardano Foundation is a member of the Intersect Oversight Committee and responsible for data assurance and verification in assisting Intersect ensure that withdrawals from its smart contract framework are correctly made. If there is a conflict between this role and a smart contract disbursement under the associated budget, the Cardano Foundation will recuse itself from the affected decision in line with the Oversight Committee code of conduct.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. We are committed to pushing the entire ecosystem forward to ensure a sustainable future for all participants. This Treasury Withdrawal provides the essential means to achieve that future, and we are ready to work alongside our partners to deliver these critical integrations.

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NOTE on 'Internal Voting':
The fields constitutional and unconstitutional below reflect the CF governance teams' individual opinions whether they are for or against the proposal. Reason for this inconsistency is, that CIP-136 is at the moment only applicable to CC rationales, but we want to record the internal opinions of our DRep assessment transparently as well.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES on the 2025 Net Change Limit Extension. This "bridge solution" will ensure operational continuity for the Cardano Treasury and resolve a technical timing conflict that may otherwise prevent currently active Budget Info Actions from executing.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

Our support for this extension is driven by the need for administrative stability and constitutional clarity.

• Resolving the Enactment Deadlock: Due to the enactment delay, a Treasury Withdrawal ratified in the final epoch of the current NCL (Epoch 604) would effectively disburse funds in Epoch 606, after the current NCL has expired. This creates a constitutional paradox where the Constitutional Committee might be forced to reject an otherwise constitutionally valid withdrawal simply because there is no "applicable NCL" at the moment of disbursement. While we recognise that the wording in the Constitution on this issue is far from clear, extending the NCL by 8 epochs removes any ambiguity, ensuring that the Cardano Critical Integrations Budget can be assessed and enacted constitutionally.

• A Bridge to the 2026 Framework: We recognize this proposal as a temporary bridge, not a permanent baseline. The 8-epoch extension provides a good buffer, ensuring treasury operations do not grind to a halt in January. Community Leadership: We want to extend our gratitude to Mike Hornan, HOSKY, Tingvard, and the Ace Alliance for identifying this edge case and proposing a solution. This action demonstrates the strength of Cardano’s decentralized governance model: expert community members stepping up to collaborate to ensure the system functions smoothly.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. This is a responsible administrative update that ensures business continuity. By approving this extension, we hope to assist the Constitutional Committee in resolving procedural dilemmas and ensure that the ecosystem's strategic funding priorities can be executed without technical interruption.

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NOTE on 'Internal Voting':
The fields constitutional and unconstitutional below reflect the CF governance teams' individual opinions whether they are for or against the proposal. Reason for this inconsistency is, that CIP-136 is at the moment only applicable to CC rationales, but we want to record the internal opinions of our DRep assessment transparently as well.

The Cardano Foundation, as a DRep, votes YES on this GA. As a member of the Steering Committee, we support this initiative. We see the 70,000,000 ada allocation as a necessary catalyst to integrate Cardano into the wider blockchain economy and secure the network's long-term economic sustainability.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

Our support for this proposal is grounded in our strategic vision for Cardano and our commitment to advancing the ecosystem.

1. Strategic Alignment and Roadmap: This workstream complements and aligns with the Cardano Foundation’s new roadmap (https://cardanofoundation.org/blog/cardano-foundation-roadmap) announced in September 2025. In that roadmap, we prioritized "Boosting Cardano DeFi" and "Cardano x Web3" integrations as critical pillars for adoption. This budget effectively operationalizes those strategic goals, providing the necessary resources to close the infrastructure gap, specifically regarding stablecoins, oracles, and bridges, that currently limits our capacity in these areas.

2. A Catalyst for Sustainability: We believe this initiative is the trigger needed to transition Cardano from a technically robust network to a commercially thriving one. By onboarding foundational utilities, we unlock the potential for high-volume DeFi and Real World Asset (RWA) applications. This activity is essential for generating the transaction fees required to ensure the long-term economic sustainability of the Cardano treasury and the network as a whole.

3. Governance Mandate: We believe that obtaining a clear mandate from DReps through this Budget Info Action, followed by a treasury withdrawal, is the correct governance approach for negotiating and executing these high-stakes integration deals. It respects the community’s role in authorizing strategic direction while allowing the Steering Committee the necessary agility to execute.

4. Collaboration and Accountability: The Cardano Foundation is proud to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Input | Output Global, EMURGO, Intersect, and the Midnight Foundation on this critical mission. We are fully committed to delivering on the goals outlined in this proposal. We will hold ourselves and our fellow Steering Committee members accountable to these shared objectives and expectations, and we invite the community and DReps to hold us accountable as well.

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Disclosure of Involvement

The Cardano Foundation is a member of the Steering Committee and contributor to this proposal. Our vote as a DRep reflects our conviction that this is the right path for Cardano. The Cardano Foundation is a member of the Intersect Oversight Committee and responsible for data assurance and verification in assisting Intersect ensure that withdrawals from its smart contract framework are correctly made. If there is a conflict between this role and a smart contract disbursement under this budget, the Cardano Foundation will recuse itself from the affected decision in line with the Oversight Committee code of conduct.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. We are committed to pushing the entire ecosystem forward to ensure a sustainable future for all participants. This budget provides the essential means to achieve that future, and we are ready to work alongside our partners to deliver these critical integrations.

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NOTE on 'Internal Voting':
The fields constitutional and unconstitutional below reflect the CF governance teams' individual opinions whether they are for or against the proposal. Reason for this inconsistency is, that CIP-136 is at the moment only applicable to CC rationales, but we want to record the internal opinions of our DRep assessment transparently as well.

The Cardano Foundation, as a DRep, votes YES on this NewCommittee governance action. We recognise the necessity of bringing the Constitutional Committee (CC) up to the minimum size in order to ensure continuity until the next election in September 2026 (epoch 653).

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

The Cardano Foundation acknowledges the need to bridge the gap between resignation of the Cardano Atlantic Council and the next committee elections in September 2026 with a new committee member appointment. This will ensure that critical governance actions between now and September 2026 can be voted on by the CC, which will be restored to a functional state.
We trust that the new elected CC member Cardano Curia will vote promptly and conscientiously, with full consideration for the Cardano Constitution and the proper role of a Constitutional Committee member.
Note: While this is not a counterargument per se, we also note that this NewCommittee governance action suggests that CC consideration is needed in respect of Net Change Limit governance actions. While consideration can of course be given, we do not think the CC needs to vote on such governance actions per the wording of the Constitution, which contains no such requirement.

The Cardano Foundation, as a DRep, votes YES to this NewCommittee governance action.

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NOTE on 'Internal Voting':
The fields constitutional and unconstitutional below reflect the CF governance teams' individual opinions whether they are for or against the proposal. Reason for this inconsistency is, that CIP-136 is at the moment only applicable to CC rationales, but we want to record the internal opinions of our DRep assessment transparently as well.

The Cardano Foundation (DRep) votes YES on this Treasury Withdrawal. We believe that our concerns raised to the related Budget Info Action have been substantially resolved and that the Snek team and Intersect will resolve any residual concerns once the loan agreement is finalized.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

This proposal introduces an innovative and necessary funding mechanism for the Cardano ecosystem: a treasury-backed loan for a scaling commercial entity. This model fills a gap for mature projects seeking growth capital, offering a new path aligned with decentralized principles. The shift from a grant to a repayable loan is an improvement, and the inclusion of Intersect as an administrator and a competent advisory board provides a strong framework for professional oversight. We note that the scope of the advisory board’s oversight role is not yet finalised and may change.

We commend the Snek team for making the draft loan agreement public, committing to regular reporting on costs and progress, and providing a description of the purpose of the loan. We are assured by the Snek and Intersect teams that any remaining inconsistencies between the budget info action and this treasury withdrawal governance action will be addressed more clearly in the future or otherwise remedied in the final version of the loan agreement between Snek and Intersect/CDH. In view of this, we believe a 'yes' vote is appropriate to support this experimental approach.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES to support the direction of this loan-based proposal and its potential in presenting a sustainable model of Treasury funded endeavours.

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NOTE on 'Internal Voting':
The fields constitutional and unconstitutional below reflect the CF governance teams' individual opinions whether they are for or against the proposal. Reason for this inconsistency is, that CIP-136 is at the moment only applicable to CC rationales, but we want to record the internal opinions of our DRep assessment transparently as well.

The Cardano Foundation, as a DRep, votes YES on this budget info action. Reimbursing the proposer who lost 100'000 ada deposit due to a protocol issue is straightforward. Our support for the subsequent treasury withdrawal is contingent on the funds being sent to the original, affected stake address.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

This proposal aims to correct a well-documented technical issue from the first weeks of on-chain governance. The Cardano Foundation supports this action based on the following:

• Correcting a Protocol-Level Flaw: This is not a typical funding request, but a reimbursement. An early pioneer of the governance system lost their deposit due to a bug in the node that allowed an unregistered stake key to be used, a flaw that has since been fixed. We reject the counterargument that this was simple user error; the technical requirements were not documented in an accessible way for the community at the time. Upholding the integrity of the governance system means making this user whole.
• Community-Aligned Action: There has been widespread, long-standing community agreement that this reimbursement is the right and fair thing to do. Voting "yes" aligns with this community consensus and strengthens trust in the governance process.
• Reasonable Compensation: The request for 103,000 ada is reasonable. It covers the 100,000 ada principal and a modest 3,000 ada to compensate for lost staking rewards and other opportunities. This additional amount is a fair calculation to fully restore the user to the position they would have been in.

Condition for Treasury Withdrawal

Our support for this budget info action is given with one clear condition for the subsequent treasury withdrawal: the proposer must provide verifiable proof that they are the original, affected party.
This current proposal was submitted from a different stake address (stake1u8453de8xhhqa9c4ftvylkke8we84tmaq5hz75qwfgaaf2qac45ja) than the one that lost the deposit (stake1uys93fhep4lc2u6lu0q09kcxayxzthasded35c0x0w60ugc9s0cm5). To prevent a fraudulent claim and ensure the correct party is reimbursed, the proposer must, at the treasury withdrawal stage, provide definitive proof of identity.

This proof could be provided in one of two ways:

1. Direct Payout: The treasury withdrawal is submitted with the payout address set to the original, affected stake address (...c9s0cm5).
2. Cryptographic Proof: The proposer provides a message signed by the stake key associated with the original (...c9s0cm5) address, confirming their identity and directing the funds to the new address.

Without such proof, we will not support the final treasury withdrawal.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. This is a necessary corrective measure to maintain fairness and trust in the protocol. We support this budget with the explicit condition that the final reimbursement is verifiably sent to the original stakeholder who incurred the loss.

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NOTE on 'Internal Voting':
The fields constitutional and unconstitutional below reflect the CF governance teams' individual opinions whether they are for or against the proposal. Reason for this inconsistency is, that CIP-136 is at the moment only applicable to CC rationales, but we want to record the internal opinions of our DRep assessment transparently as well.

The Cardano Foundation, as a DRep, votes YES on this info action. As the proposer, we are adding our vote to the rest of the community's to show support for this strategic, self-funded initiative. Securing the .ada and .cardano gTLDs is a great opportunity for the entire ecosystem.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

This info action, submitted by the Cardano Foundation, serves a clear purpose: to gauge on-chain community sentiment and gather a formal record of support for a potential ICANN application for the .ada and .cardano gTLDs.

Our decision to vote "YES" on our own proposal is based on the following:

• Our Role as a Community DRep: The purpose of this info action is to measure community support. As a DRep, the Cardano Foundation represents not only its own organizational stance but also the will of the community members delegating their ada to our DRep. We are a part of the community, and we are voting for this strategic initiative on behalf of our delegators as we believe it would be a positive course of action.
• No Cost to the Treasury: This is not a request for treasury funds. The Cardano Foundation has committed to using its own financial resources for the entire ICANN application and management process. This info action is purely a request for community endorsement, making it a simple and high-value proposition for ada holders to support.
• Strategic Importance: Securing the .ada and .cardano gTLDs is a rare, time-sensitive opportunity that aligns with the upcoming ICANN application window in Q1 2026. These gTLDs are vital for the ecosystem's long-term brand protection, digital identity, and ability to foster Web2-to-Web3 innovations.
• Commitment to Community Governance: The Cardano Foundation, as a non-profit dedicated to the development of Cardano as a public digital infrastructure, is the right long-term steward for this project. The proposal's plan to establish a dedicated Community Advisory Group to guide the gTLDs' development ensures this project will be managed in the ecosystem's best interest.

The Cardano Foundation, as a DRep, votes YES. It is a clear, non-controversial step toward strengthening Cardano’s digital infrastructure without drawing on treasury resources. We invite the community to join us in supporting this important initiative.

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NOTE on 'Internal Voting':
The fields constitutional and unconstitutional below reflect the CF governance teams' individual opinions whether they are for or against the proposal. Reason for this inconsistency is, that CIP-136 is at the moment only applicable to CC rationales, but we want to record the internal opinions of our DRep assessment transparently as well.

The Cardano Foundation, as a DRep, votes NO. While we support the principle of CC compensation, this proposal lacks an explanation of how the requested amount was calculated, an accountability framework and it risks creating misaligned incentives. We encourage the proposers to revisit this proposal.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

This governance action has successfully initiated an important, ecosystem-wide discussion on how to fairly and sustainably compensate key governance roles. The Cardano Constitution explicitly provides for the compensation of the Constitutional Committee (CC). The Cardano Foundation, acting as a DRep, supports this principle.

Our NO vote is not a rejection of the principle of compensation but of this specific implementation. Our concerns are based on the following points:

• Improper Sequencing: This proposal is premature as it requests funding before a necessary accountability framework is in place. Compensating these key role players without a framework against which to hold them accountable for performing their duties is unwise. A public-facing framework defining the CC's duties, minimum participation standards, and conditions for non-payment should be established before a budget for compensation is approved.
• Misaligned Incentive Structure: A high, pre-determined compensation amount of 200,000 ada per seat without an accountability framework risks creating a problematic incentive structure. It may attract future candidates who are i) unsuited to the role (by background, incentive or expertise) and ii) primarily motivated by the payment rather than by commitment to fulfilling their role - potentially compromising the quality of the CC in subsequent terms.
• Potential Governance Design Issue: The proposal's justification of a high workload points to a potential governance design flaw. If the burden on a small number of CC members is unsustainable, the solution should be to fix the governance design (e.g., by expanding the CC to distribute the load, and incentivising CC members to take decisions efficiently) rather than compensating a few members to endure a structural bottleneck.
• Lack of a Calculation for the Proposed Amount: The proposal does not explain how the 200,000 ada figure per seat was calculated. This makes it hard to know whether this figure is based on estimated time and effort, and if it considers single-person CC members vs collectives. The approximate effort in reviewing GAs per seat should be equal and not differ drastically.

Recommendations for a Future Submission

This "no" vote is intended to be constructive. We believe a supportable CC budget is achievable and would be prepared to review a future submission that addresses the following key points:

• Establish an Accountability Framework First: A future proposal should be preceded by, or at least contain, a clear public-facing framework, such as a formal Code of Conduct. This document should define the minimum duties, participation levels (e.g., voting frequency, rationale submission), and specific conditions under which a member would not be eligible for compensation.
• Propose a Modular and Flexible Payment Structure: Instead of a single, automatic budget, a more defensible model would be modular (e.g., paid per governance action reviewed on a monthly basis) and tied to active participation. This ensures compensation is for services rendered and allows the system to flexibly manage costs if a member resigns or becomes inactive.
• Address the Governance Design: We encourage a broader discussion on the underlying problem of workload. A long-term solution should focus on improving the governance design itself, which may in turn lead to a more sustainable and cost-effective compensation model.

The Cardano Foundation as a DRep votes NO on this governance action. We believe this conversation is vital, but this specific proposal is not the right model for ensuring the long-term, independent, and sustainable operation of the Constitutional Committee. We are committed to working with the community to develop a more appropriate and robust framework and encourage the proposers to use this feedback to craft a new, more supportable submission.

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NOTE on 'Internal Voting':
The fields constitutional and unconstitutional below reflect the CF governance teams' individual opinions whether they are for or against the proposal. Reason for this inconsistency is, that CIP-136 is at the moment only applicable to CC rationales, but we want to record the internal opinions of our DRep assessment transparently as well.

The Cardano Foundation, as a DRep, votes YES on the New Constitution GA. This version represents an improvement over the current constitution, incorporating valuable on-chain feedback from the community. It strengthens accountability, improves clarity, and streamlines the governance process.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

This proposal to adopt Constitution v2.3 is a continuation of a community-led effort that we previously supported. Consistent with our rationale for v2.0, we believe that the Constitution is a living document, and we support incremental, community-driven improvements that are judged on their substance.

This new version demonstrates a healthy and responsive governance cycle. Following a review of v2.0, which saw participation from over 86% of the DRep active stake, the proposer integrates lessons learned and directly addresses feedback received in this v2.3.

The new version makes several key enhancements that we believe will make Cardano's governance more effective:

1. A More Efficient Treasury Process: As with version 2.0 submitted in a previous governance action, this version 2.3 streamlines the treasury process by removing the separate "budget info action" and integrating its requirements directly into a single, more comprehensive treasury withdrawal governance action type. Between versions 2.0 and 2.3 there was the removal of a provision requiring disclosure
2. Enhanced Clarity and Governance Hygiene: The draft introduces clearer definitions, fixes many inconsistencies, and removes outdated or unused clauses. These changes make the Constitution a more precise and self-contained document while reducing ambiguity for all governance participants.
3. Upholding Core Governance Principles: This update refines the Constitution's mechanics without altering the fundamental balance of power or the core roles of DReps, SPOs, and the Constitutional Committee.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. Constitution v2.3 is a well-reasoned and necessary step forward for Cardano's governance model. While still improvable, it represents a clear move in the right direction.

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NOTE on 'Internal Voting':
The fields constitutional and unconstitutional below reflect the CF governance teams' individual opinions whether they are for or against the proposal. Reason for this inconsistency is, that CIP-136 is at the moment only applicable to CC rationales, but we want to record the internal opinions of our DRep assessment transparently as well.

The Cardano Foundation, as a DRep, votes YES on this treasury withdrawal. This is consistent with our support for the preceding budget info action. While the budget is large, we believe the investment is justified for the next year in supporting the development of essential governance infrastructure

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

This treasury withdrawal (gov_action16tdkp3fs0j6303e4utgp8rftdug0ckezr4sslgv8wxdaeq40ngpsq5sr06h) governance action aligns with the approved budget info action (gov_action1n5sn54mgf47a7men2ryq6ppx88kta4wvenz2qkl4f9v6ppje8easqxwm88m) for the continued maintenance and development of GovTool. Our continued support is based on several key factors:

1. Robust Administrative Framework: The proposal's use of Intersect's smart contract framework provides a transparent structure for accountability. This directly addresses the need for clear oversight on a project of this scale.
2. A Clear and Valuable Roadmap: The planned development roadmap includes several high-impact features, such as script-based DReps, enhanced DRep voting history, and integration with the CoSponsor tool. These updates will significantly improve the functionality and accessibility of Cardano's governance system.
3. Commitment to Ecosystem Decentralization: The allocation of 250,000 ada for external contributions, to be distributed via the Andamio platform, is a commendable step. It encourages broader community participation and helps ensure the governance tooling landscape does not become dependent on a single tool or consortium.

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Expectations for Future Sustainability

While we support this 12-month budget, it is important to state our expectations for the future. The 1.15M ada sum is substantial, and this level of funding should not be considered a recurring annual expense. With such a large withdrawal, we expect the GovTool Consortium to use this year to achieve two key goals for long-term sustainability:

• Infrastructure Optimization: A primary goal should be to optimize the hosting and deployment infrastructure to reduce operational costs in the future.
• Simplified Self-Hosting: To further enhance decentralization and reduce reliance on a single point of failure, we strongly recommend the team prioritize making it straightforward for any community member to spin up and host their own instance of GovTool.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. This treasury withdrawal represents an important investment in Cardano’s core open-source governance infrastructure. The GovTool Consortium has presented a clear plan with a professional administrative framework. We support this funding with the explicit expectation that it will lead to a more cost-effective and resilient governance tooling ecosystem in the future.

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NOTE on 'Internal Voting':
The fields constitutional and unconstitutional below reflect the CF governance teams' individual opinions whether they are for or against the proposal. Reason for this inconsistency is, that CIP-136 is at the moment only applicable to CC rationales, but we want to record the internal opinions of our DRep assessment transparently as well.

The Cardano Foundation votes ABSTAIN on the Product Committee’s draft Cardano 2030 Vision & Strategy. Our vote is a commentary on the submission process, not the content. We are actively engaged with the Product Committee and look forward to voting on their final draft, once it is submitted.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

A clear, community-ratified vision and strategy is crucial for Cardano's long-term success. The Cardano Foundation is an active and supportive participant in the Product Committee’s work to develop this vision, a mandate they received via a funded treasury withdrawal (gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlr24hsvpk). Our team has been collaborating with the Committee, attending workshops, and providing detailed feedback through the Committee’s established channels to help refine the draft document.
We have decided to vote ABSTAIN on this governance action as we believe it has been submitted prematurely and its content is not reflective of the Product Committee’s final draft. This action was submitted by a community member, not by the Product Committee itself. While we encourage community initiative, voting 'Yes' or 'No' on this submission would undermine the Committee's own structured process for gathering and incorporating feedback into a finalised draft.
To ensure our feedback continues to be constructive and delivered effectively, we will continue to provide input directly to the Product Committee via their official channels.

The Cardano Foundation votes to ABSTAIN. This decision is not a judgment on the content of the linked Cardano 2030 Vision & Strategy document itself, but is based on the unfinished nature of the draft submitted for voting. We strongly encourage the Product Committee to continue its important work and look forward to participating in an official governance action on this document when submitted by the Committee.

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NOTE on 'Internal Voting':
The fields constitutional and unconstitutional below reflect the CF governance teams' individual opinions whether they are for or against the proposal. Reason for this inconsistency is, that CIP-136 is at the moment only applicable to CC rationales, but we want to record the internal opinions of our DRep assessment transparently as well.

Cardano Foundation votes YES - at this time. We do support the strategic goal of enhancing DeFi liquidity, but we have requirements that must be satisfied for us to vote YES on any treasury withdrawal. In particular, the proposal must address concerns around governance, security, and operations.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

We commend the proposing team for their effort and for tackling the challenge of stablecoin liquidity on Cardano. The initiative to establish a structured, on-chain governance process for liquidity deployment is very welcome and lines up with our own efforts. Our YES vote is a recognition of these facts and a reflection of the willingness by the proposers to collaborate on solving the remaining practical challenges.
However, to proceed successfully from the proposal stage to withdrawals, a treasury request of this magnitude that also establishes new governance mechanisms, must provide satisfactory answers on all key challenges. In its current form, the proposal does not yet do this. We provide an overview of our requirements and recommendations below.

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Recommendations for a Revised Proposal

Our support for any future treasury withdrawal is contingent upon the proposing team addressing the key remaining challenges. We have separated these into requirements for our future support and an additional set of recommendations.

Minimal Requirements

The following are the key challenges the team must provide satisfactory answers for in the subsequent treasury withdrawal requests. For the Phase 2 requirements, we may add additional or further clarify existing requirements subsequent to Phase 1 results.

For the Phase 1 Treasury Withdrawal Request - 500k ada:

1. Legal and Operational Structure: The proposal must detail the legal structure and jurisdiction that will be used as a legal nexus for the committee and associated governance mechanisms and provide a rationale for the choices made.
2. Conflict of Interest Policy: A conflict of interest policy for committee members and any other decision makers, outlining consequences for non-disclosure.
3. Selection Framework: The specific, detailed criteria for evaluating and selecting stablecoins, DeFi protocols, and DEXs, including any limitations on such selections, must be published before any treasury withdrawals are submitted. The protocol application (RFP) process must also require applicants to disclose any relationships with committee members. If a conflict of interest (COI) is discovered after the fact, we expect the affected protocol to be blacklisted and the involved committee member to be removed from the committee.
4. Clarification of Metrics: The metrics currently provided to measure success and manage community expectations (e.g. "4% Annual Returns") must be clarified (e.g. to distinguish between portfolio APY and the actual distribution yield to the treasury). This includes the intended improvements to the user experience in Cardano DeFi. Additionally a clear formula for calculating monthly revenue must be provided.
5. Asset Management Strategy Principles: An outline of the overall approach to the asset management lifecycle for the fund.

For the Phase 2 Treasury Withdrawal Request - 49.5M ada:

1. Legal and Operational Structure: The governance and contractual framework for the legal structure and its constituent components (e.g. board, committee(s), other) must be fully developed and publicly available. This includes but is not necessarily limited to e.g. articles of association, organisational regulations, other internal policies and regulations (insofar as they are not security relevant; e.g. custody setup), etc.
2. Projections and Simulations: Suitable projections and simulations that map out the likely outcomes of the liquidity injections for the Cardano ecosystem and by extension provide a justification for the withdrawal amount.
3. Advisors & Service Providers: The advisors and service providers envisaged for the operational phase must be identified and a rationale should be provided for the selection of each one.
4. Risk Management: A formal risk management framework and assessment, including contingency and disaster recovery plans (e.g. committee out of action) for the legal structure must be available.
5. Asset Management Strategy: A fully fledged strategy to address the lifecycle of liquidity positions must be available, including an approach and strategy for unwinding and reallocating capital over the long term.
6. Operational Procedures: An operational framework with associated processes must be available (e.g. for committee operations, voting, eligibility selection, wind-up etc.).

Recommendations

The following are recommendations that we would strongly suggest for consideration by the proposal team going forward. We believe they are critical for strengthening the proposal’s safety and viability.

1. Governance and Security Design:
   • Fund Return Process: The administrating smart contract should include a technical failsafe that allows a tDAO vote to directly and automatically trigger the return of funds to the treasury without committee cooperation.
   • Committee Member Qualifications: The proposal should establish minimum requirements for committee candidates (e.g., KYC, Sanctions Checks) and allow for voluntary resignation.
   • tDAO Action Prioritization: A clear process for prioritizing tDAO votes should be defined to prevent the mechanism from being used to deliberately block urgent actions.
   • Governance Protocol Flexibility: A plan should be outlined for how critical updates could be made to the "immutable section" of the Governance Protocol if a vulnerability is discovered.
   • Time Delays and Vetos: To minimize the opportunity for frontrunning and provide an additional safeguard for committee overreach, suitable time delays between committee decisions and on-chain execution should be considered, possibly alongside tDAO veto power as a backstop.
   • Dual-Approval for Key Decisions: Simply increasing the committee voting threshold does not sufficiently mitigate the risk of a captured committee. We recommend implementing a dual-approval mechanism for critical decisions (e.g. deploying funds to a new protocol). This would require both a majority vote from the administrative committee (e.g. 5/9) AND a separate approval from the tDAO (e.g., a 33% active stake 'yes' vote). This or similar mechanisms would introduce a vital check and balance on the decision making process and increase operational security for the committee, ensuring alignment between the expert committee and tDAO.
2. tDAO Integrity and Mechanics:
   • Membership Rules: The rules should explicitly prevent administrative committee members from simultaneously serving as DReps within the tDAO.
   • Voting Power Snapshots: The proposal should commit to a high-frequency (e.g., daily) snapshot of DRep voting power to accurately reflect the state of delegation.
   • Clarification of tDAO Voting Mechanics: The proposal should specify how non-votes are treated and should consider establishing minimum quorum requirements.
     DRep and Committee Compensation and Liability: The proposal should address if, why and how DReps and committee members will be compensated for their oversight role, how to ensure that they “turn up for work” if they do receive compensation and what, if any, legal exposure they could have.

Note on Governance and Oversight
To ensure transparency, we acknowledge the participation of our CTO, Giorgio Zinetti, as a member of the administrative committee for this proposal. We view his involvement as providing critical technical expertise and oversight to the initiative, helping to ensure its operational soundness.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES at this time. Assuming the proposal passes this stage, we have outlined our clear and actionable requirements for subsequent Phase 1 and Phase 2 treasury withdrawal governance actions.

The Cardano Foundation, as a DRep, votes YES on the Snek Budget Loan info action. The loan model is a positive step. Our support for the final treasury withdrawal depends on crucial improvements to the loan's terms and transparency.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

This proposal introduces an innovative and necessary funding mechanism for the Cardano ecosystem: a treasury-backed loan for a scaling commercial entity. This model fills a gap for mature projects seeking growth capital, offering a new path aligned with decentralized principles. The shift from a grant to a repayable loan is an improvement, and the inclusion of Intersect as an administrator and a competent advisory board provides a strong framework for professional oversight.

While we acknowledge community concerns regarding the need for more verifiable data and professional conduct, we believe the proposed oversight structure is designed to ensure a high standard of execution. We believe a 'yes' vote on the info action is appropriate to support this experimental approach and allow the process to continue.

Recommendations for a Treasury Withdrawal Governance Action

While we support this proposal to encourage this direction, our support at the next step - the treasury withdrawal governance action - will depend on the team incorporating key improvements to the loan's terms and transparency. The proposal would need to be updated to address the following key areas to be considered for our support:

Non-Negotiable Requirements

These are essential items required for our support of subsequent treasury withdrawals.

1. Public Availability of the Loan Agreement: The binding loan agreement to be administered by Intersect is a crucial document. We strongly suggest making it public before the treasury withdrawal is submitted. This transparency will help the community understand Intersect’s role and what the precise loan terms are.
2. A High-Level Cost Breakdown: The proposal should include a breakdown of how the 5 million ada will be allocated across key categories (e.g., listing fees, liquidity, legal) and the timing of expenditure. A budget and cash flow projection are necessary to assess the feasibility of the repayment plan.
3. A "Use of Funds" Clause: The loan agreement should include an explicit clause restricting the use of funds to the stated goals, prohibiting their use for speculative activities like yield farming.

Strong Recommendations

These are recommended improvements that would greatly strengthen the proposal and increase its chances of receiving our support.
A Revised Interest Rate: The proposed 2.44% APR does not appear to reflect the risk profile of an uncollateralized loan adequately. We would expect a revised rate of 5-10% APR that provides a fair, risk-adjusted return to the Treasury.

1. A Phased Withdrawal Plan: We strongly recommend structuring the 5 million ada withdrawal in multiple tranches tied to specific, verifiable milestones, rather than disbursing it as a single lump sum. This would align funding directly with progress and enhance accountability.

Note on Governance and Oversight

To ensure full transparency, we acknowledge our CEO, Frederik Gregaard's participation on the proposal's advisory board. This role is separate from the Cardano Foundation's function as a DRep. Our vote and rationale stem from an independent evaluation by our governance advisory team, based on the proposal's merits. We see this advisory role as a helpful way to keep the initiative aligned with the ecosystem's best interests. However, it does not influence the outcome of our DRep vote.

The Cardano Foundation, as a DRep, votes YES to support the direction of this loan-based proposal. Our final position on a treasury withdrawal will be determined by a thorough review of a revised proposal that incorporates these necessary improvements.

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NOTE on 'Internal Voting':
The fields constitutional and unconstitutional below reflect the CF governance teams' individual opinions whether they are for or against the proposal. Reason for this inconsistency is, that CIP-136 is at the moment only applicable to CC rationales, but we want to record the internal opinions of our DRep assessment transparently as well.

The Cardano Foundation, as a DRep, votes YES on the "Cardano in Oceania" budget info action. We believe the initiative is strategically sound and deserves a principled vote.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

This proposal is a professional and grassroots effort to create a regional hub for Cardano. The plan to develop a repeatable model for ecosystem growth is a valuable strategic objective. We also note the inclusion of a milestone-based funding model and a framework for KPIs, which demonstrates a commitment to accountability. The team consists of active and credible community members.

Recommendations for a Treasury Withdrawal Proposal

While we support the direction of this info action, a subsequent treasury withdrawal proposal or revised info action should be significantly strengthened by addressing the following areas:

1. A More Focused Scope: The current strategy is broad, aiming to deliver initiatives across multiple verticals (government, enterprise, non-profits) at once. Our recommendation is to narrow the focus of this proposal to one or two key areas where the team has existing networks. This would likely yield faster, more tangible results and build a stronger foundation for later expansion.
2. Establishment of Baseline Data: The proposal outlines KPIs for growth but lacks baseline data on the region's current status (e.g., DRep participation, developer activity). To accurately measure the impact of the initiative, we would expect a treasury withdrawal proposal to include this starting-point data.

The Cardano Foundation, as a DRep, votes YES to signal our support for this type of strategic, community-led initiative and to encourage the proposers. We are confident that a more focused plan with clear baseline metrics would present a compelling case for funding, and we look forward to reviewing a revised proposal at the info action or treasury withdrawal stage.

---

NOTE on 'Internal Voting':
The fields constitutional and unconstitutional below reflect the CF governance teams' individual opinions whether they are for or against the proposal. Reason for this inconsistency is, that CIP-136 is at the moment only applicable to CC rationales, but we want to record the internal opinions of our DRep assessment transparently as well.

The Cardano Foundation, as a DRep, votes YES on the New Constitution GA. We believe it is an improvement to the current version. Our vote is based on a thorough review, in line with the principle that the Constitution is a living document designed for periodic refinement by the community.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

This governance action has generated significant community discussion, much of which is focused on the drafting process, as it did not include global workshops and voting at a convention. We believe that governance documents for a decentralized infrastructure like Cardano should be improved incrementally and that any community member should be allowed to make suggestions. While in-person processes have their place and can be useful, we do not agree that this should be a requirement for any proposed changes.

Consequently, we focused on evaluating the substance of a proposal and are voting on whether it represents a net positive for the Cardano ecosystem. In our assessment this proposal followed the amendment process as it is currently required by the Constitution. While there were no workshops or conventions, the drafting process involved months of public, asynchronous feedback via shared documents where anyone could contribute. We welcome further refinement of the constitutional amendment process and we see the Civics Committee as a potential body to lead this work. The Cardano Foundation is eager to collaborate with them to explore a structured process for future amendments. However, at this stage we do not wish to vote against an amendment which we believe is a net positive for the system simply because it did not follow the previous drafting process.

Assessment of the Proposed Version

The new version makes several key enhancements that we believe will make Cardano's governance more effective:

1. A More Efficient Treasury Process: The proposal streamlines the treasury process by removing the separate "budget info action" and integrating its requirements directly into a single, more comprehensive treasury withdrawal governance action type. This reduces bureaucracy while maintaining scrutiny, as the new draft introduces stricter informational requirements for all treasury withdrawals. Some of these requirements will provide DReps with greater certainty as to who is receiving the withdrawal and what they intend to use it for, thereby providing better transparency for the ecosystem on the use of treasury funds.

2. Enhanced Clarity and Governance Hygiene: The draft introduces clearer definitions, fixes many inconsistencies, and removes outdated or unused clauses. These changes make the Constitution a more precise and self-contained document while reducing ambiguity for all governance participants.

3. Upholding Core Governance Principles: This update refines the Constitution's mechanics without altering the fundamental balance of power or the core roles of DReps, SPOs, and the Constitutional Committee.

The Cardano Foundation, as a DRep, votes YES on the New Constitution Governance Action. We see it as an incremental improvement that aligns with the core principle of the Constitution as a living document. This vote represents a principled decision to support progress and affirm that, in a decentralized ecosystem, constructive proposals should be judged on their substance and merit.

---

NOTE on 'Internal Voting':
The fields constitutional and unconstitutional below reflect the CF governance teams' individual opinions whether they are for or against the proposal.
Reason for this inconsistency is, that CIP-136 is at the moment only applicable to CC rationales, but we want to record the internal opinions of our DRep assessment transparently as well.

The Cardano Foundation, as a DRep, votes ABSTAIN on both treasury withdrawal proposals submitted by the Snek team. As the proposals are substantively identical, this rationale applies to both.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

We recognize that the Snek team is actively revising their initiative into a new proposal that addresses community feedback. We are currently voting abstain on these two governance actions to give them space to complete this work, and we look forward to reviewing their revised submission soon.
We strongly support and continue to work on the goal of expanding exchange access for Cardano Native Tokens (CNTs) and recognize Snek's significant contributions. The Snek team has achieved impressive market traction to secure the first Tier 1 exchange listings for a CNT, a milestone for the entire ecosystem. They have succeeded because of the strong user interest their project has generated and the related business opportunity it offers for exchanges.
However, our vote on any treasury proposal must be based on the quality, structure, and accountability of the action itself. The current proposals leave several areas open for clarification, particularly regarding financial detail, a sustainable funding model, and constitutional validity. These considerations prevent us from casting a YES vote at this time.

Conclusion and Path Forward

Rather than voting NO on the two governance actions, we are voting ABSTAIN to signal our clear support for the Snek team on their journey to refine their initiative. We understand they are incorporating feedback and preparing a new proposal. This is a process we wish to encourage.
We believe Snek is well-positioned to address the challenge of CNT listings, and we are eager to review and support a revised proposal that aligns this important goal with the high standards of accountability and sustainability that the Cardano community deserves. We look forward to the new submission.

The Cardano Foundation, as a DRep, votes ABSTAIN on both treasury withdrawal proposals submitted by the Snek team. As the proposals are substantively identical, this rationale applies to both.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

We recognize that the Snek team is actively revising their initiative into a new proposal that addresses community feedback. We are currently voting abstain on these two governance actions to give them space to complete this work, and we look forward to reviewing their revised submission soon.
We strongly support and continue to work on the goal of expanding exchange access for Cardano Native Tokens (CNTs) and recognize Snek's significant contributions. The Snek team has achieved impressive market traction to secure the first Tier 1 exchange listings for a CNT, a milestone for the entire ecosystem. They have succeeded because of the strong user interest their project has generated and the related business opportunity it offers for exchanges.
However, our vote on any treasury proposal must be based on the quality, structure, and accountability of the action itself. The current proposals leave several areas open for clarification, particularly regarding financial detail, a sustainable funding model, and constitutional validity. These considerations prevent us from casting a YES vote at this time.

Conclusion and Path Forward

Rather than voting NO on the two governance actions, we are voting ABSTAIN to signal our clear support for the Snek team on their journey to refine their initiative. We understand they are incorporating feedback and preparing a new proposal. This is a process we wish to encourage.
We believe Snek is well-positioned to address the challenge of CNT listings, and we are eager to review and support a revised proposal that aligns this important goal with the high standards of accountability and sustainability that the Cardano community deserves. We look forward to the new submission.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES on the governance action “Replace Interim Constitutional Committee” to ratify the results of the recent Constitutional Committee election.

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

As previously outlined, the Cardano Foundation participated actively in this election by developing an assessment methodology to assess the nominated candidates and endorsing seven of these candidates who we believed are best suited for the role.
The final composition of the proposed committee is aligned with our recommendations, giving us confidence in the body's collective expertise and ability to uphold the Cardano Constitution. Ratifying this governance action is the necessary final step in transitioning from an appointed interim committee to a community-elected one, marking a significant milestone in Cardano's journey toward decentralized governance. We support this action to ensure a seamless transition and uphold the integrity of the electoral process.

Transparency and Conflict of Interest Management

It is important to note that two members of the Cardano Foundation's governance advisory team, Nicolas Cerny and Matthias Benkort, have recused themselves from this vote and did not contribute to this rationale. This is due to their direct involvement as members of the proposed Constitutional Committee, Matthias as an individual member, and Nicolas as part of the Ace Alliance.

Internal Vote Summary:

• Votes in Favor: 5
• Votes Against: 0
• Abstentions: 0
• Votes Not to Vote: 0
• Not Voted: 2 (2 members recused themselves from this proposal)

The Cardano Foundation DRep has changed its vote to 'YES' for the Treasury Withdrawal Governance Action “Withdraw ₳605,000 for A free Native Asset CDN for Cardano Developers.”

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

Our initial 'no' vote was based on financial and funding concerns, which have been addressed by additional information from the NFTCDN team, found in the reference materials.

This proposal funds a free Native Asset Content Delivery Network (CDN) for all Cardano developers for 18 months. This infrastructure solves a complex and expensive problem for builders, and the service is already trusted and utilized by key ecosystem projects like the Eternl and Vespr wallets. Making it free removes high-cost barriers, especially for low-revenue and non-profit projects.

Key points that justify this change:

• Addressed Financial Concerns: The NFTCDN team provided a clear budget breakdown for salaries and infrastructure costs based on current usage patterns.
• Clear Long-Term Strategy: The 18-month funding period is strategic. It will be used to gather meaningful data to allow DReps to vote on one of three sustainable future paths for the service: making it open-source, decentralizing it, or transferring ownership to a non-profit.
• Appropriate Funding Venue: Our initial assessment suggested Project Catalyst as a more suitable venue. However, the NFTCDN team clarified that no appropriate funding category exists in Catalyst for this type of infrastructure project, which led them to the Treasury Withdrawal process.

We now consider this proposal to be a suitably justified, strategic investment in public infrastructure that offers a clear path to long-term sustainability and provides immediate value to the entire Cardano developer community.

The Cardano Foundation, as a DRep, votes YES on the budget info action for "Tempo for Cardano Governance - Maintenance & Development Budget for 2025" (gov_action1f9da8n2yaf4updxzmwc7fnw8ug2gwnpvqays5n3yw6nz0mu3z2qqq6ggge9).

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

This is a pragmatic decision based on the strategic importance of fostering a competitive and diverse governance tooling landscape. While the proposal has flaws in its quality and detail, we believe the risk of creating a tooling monoculture currently outweighs these concerns.

Rationale Statement

This decision reflects a careful balance between the project's potential strategic value and the valid critiques of the proposal itself. Our support is conditional and comes with clear expectations for future funding requests.

Reasons for a 'YES' Vote

1. Strategic Importance of Ecosystem Competition: The primary driver for our support is the need for healthy competition in the governance tooling sector. tempo.vote provides another option for the ecosystem as a governance interface, allowing users to perform core governance functions like DRep registration and proposal submission. Having multiple options for such tooling supports decentralization, encourages innovation, and can help ensure tooling costs remain reasonable over the long term.
2. Demonstrated Value and Community Use: The tempo platform has demonstrated its value and agility, for instance, by quickly shipping a bulk-voting feature helpful to the community. This responsiveness helps justify the requested ₳380,000 for six months, which, while high, we view as a pragmatic investment to sustain this valuable tooling solution option.
3. Supporting Ecosystem Diversity: This vote serves as an important political signal that Cardano's governance and treasury are accessible to smaller, independent development teams. Fostering a diverse ecosystem of builders beyond the large, established entities is essential for Cardano's long-term health and decentralization.

The Cardano Foundation votes YES. This pragmatic decision is based on the strategic imperative to support competition and diversity in Cardano's governance tooling landscape. However, this support is conditional. While we approve this budget to ensure the continuation of a valuable community tool, our approval of the subsequent treasury withdrawal is contingent upon a significantly improved proposal, to be updated and submitted with, or before, the relevant treasury withdrawal governance action is submitted (should this budget info action pass). To secure future support, the Tempo team must provide a subsequent submission that includes comprehensive user metrics, a specific feature roadmap, a detailed financial breakdown, and a robust plan for fund administration and oversight.

This document provides an aggregate rationale for the Cardano Foundation DRep’s votes on all Treasury Withdrawal GAs stemming from the approved “Cardano Blockchain Ecosystem Budget - 275M ada Administered by Intersect” (gov_action1u9x73kwufaxa70lfy59g4ynwyrcsaxdcd0gxzzmh67s9fxq4j8hqqk2phgh).

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

Our approach is designed to ensure both transparency and efficiency, applying a consistent evaluation framework (see here; the “Evaluation Framework”) to each proposal while presenting our reasoning in a single, comprehensive document.

Our current assessment remains consistent with the principles previously outlined in our public communications and our evaluation during the Ekklesia off-chain signaling phase. As no material changes have been made to the individual proposals since the overarching budget was approved, our votes on these withdrawals reflect our original assessment of them. However, we have changed our previous abstention on the Intersect proposal and our previous “No” vote for the Discover Cardano proposal to a "Yes" vote.

Fund administration clarity is a crucial consideration for our voting decisions. While this budget is approved as a package, we expect Intersect, as administrator, to manage funds diligently, provide public transparency on contracts, and ensure robust oversight, holding recipients accountable for deliverables.

Our voting decisions on the 39 treasury withdrawals are presented in the table below. The "Vote" column displays our votes. For all proposals requesting 3 million ada or more, our assessment is included in the "Note" column.

Table A – Voting Record

Governance Action ID	Title	Requested ADA	Vote	Note
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqz6d98zp	2025 Input Output Engineering Core Development Proposal	96,817,080	ABSTAIN	We abstain from both the TSC and IO Engineering proposals for the following different reasons: For the TSC proposal, we abstain due to the lack of a credible execution path. Although we support the intent and approach and while we recognise the significant work that went into this proposal, the recent sudden withdrawal of administrative support by the Intersect board makes the proposal unfeasible, even if funded at this time. For the IO Engineering proposal, we abstain as we are not confident that the current version offers sufficient transparency or accountability to justify endorsement. Our concerns stem from the lack of adjustments following constructive community feedback, particularly regarding scope, cost-effectiveness, and safeguards. View Cardano Foundation feedback from 11 May here.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpwywvhcq	Catalyst 2025 Proposal by Input Output: Advancing Decentralised Community Innovation Funding & Infrastructure	69,459,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it is important to ensure continuity for the main source of grant funding for the ecosystem during a transition year for governance, especially as Project Catalyst is a funding system that the Cardano ecosystem is familiar with. As the proposal did not fully account for CF's initial budget feedback nor propose activities linked to resolving known shortcomings, we will be monitoring these areas ahead of any subsequent budget proposals by Project Catalyst
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlzqhm6e8q	Input Output Research (IOR): Cardano Vision - Work Program 2025	26,840,000	ABSTAIN	We abstain from this proposal because we view key components of the proposed budget as materially too high, and previous feedback regarding costs and scope, including specific points raised by the Cardano Foundation on March 11 were not adequately addressed. View Cardano Foundation feedback from 11 May here.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlp2tyw3h6	A member-based organization for the Cardano ecosystem: Intersect	15,750,000	YES	We adjusted our vote from ‘abstain’ to ‘yes’ on this proposal. This reflects our acknowledgement of Intersect's revised 15.75M ada budget, recognizing Intersect's shift towards leaner operations. Our initial vote to abstain based on the discrepancy between the on-chain proposal and the updated off-chain figures, which has been remedied now. We emphasize the importance of having accurate and updated details reflected directly on the Ekklesia platform for all future proposals to ensure transparency and streamline the DRep voting process.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlp5u7pqqr	Cardano Builder DAO	12,000,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it mitigates the dependency of Cardano on grants by exploring convertible grants to incentivise projects better. The proposal identifies and addresses the gap in post-Catalyst funding for projects needing follow-up support in focusing on achieving product market fit instead of optimising towards grant writing.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqudh2k4c	TWEAG’s Proposals for multiple core budget projects for Cardano 2025	11,070,323	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as we believe supporting diverse contributors increases the resilience of Cardano, and as the proposal demonstrates a collaborative approach, accountability, and an appropriate engagement framework.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpjq3z9u5	Unveiling the First Unified Global Events Marketing Strategy for Cardano	6,000,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as it provides a clear value proposition for Cardano. This proposal was already assessed as part of the Marketing and Growth Budget.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpsn5rx0e	Cardano Summit 2025 and regional tech events	6,000,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as it provides a clear value proposition for Cardano. This proposal was already assessed as part of the Marketing and Growth Budget.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqkqx0ecg	OSC Budget Proposal - Paid Open Source Model for Sustainable Development	5,885,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as it aligns with the Cardano Vision and Roadmap for 2025 and beyond and contributes to a sustainable developer ecosystem for Cardano. However, we still believe additional details would have strengthened this proposal further.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlp730y0dn	Expanding Stablecoin / Cardano Native Asset Support / Fiat Ramps	4,000,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as it contributes to the growth in liquidity and DeFi, which we believe is an important value proposition.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpcdq823y	Ecosystem Exchange Listing and Market Making service pool	3,126,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal in line with the GMC’s voting and according to previous viability assessments.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpuz29v77	High-yield RWA Asset for Cardano : Tokenized Real Estate	3,000,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as it supports the expansion of the RWA topic. However, there is a lack of alignment with the roadmap, which we would expect to be enhanced afterwards.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqqfgyy3v	Midgard - Optimistic Rollups	2,162,096	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpk0mqrnw	Complement Catalyst: Extended Quadratic Funding—Zero Operational Costs	1,500,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqyxzxz7k	Blockfrost Platform community budget proposal	1,300,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqwtnrdnx	zkFold ZK Rollup	1,161,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlp679xfzf	Cardano Ecosystem Pavilions at Exhibitions	889,500	YES	We adjusted our vote from ‘no’ to ‘yes’ on this proposal. This reflects our acknowledgement of the revised scope to avoid overlapping with other proposals.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlzxt5eumh	Cardano Product Committee: Community-driven 2030 Cardano Vision and 2026 roadmap insights collection via workshops and structured product research	750,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlq77jt4x4	ZK Bridge	700,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpz4s2af8	Scalus - DApps Development Platform	657,692	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpx66gmxa	A free Native Asset CDN for Cardano Developers	605,000	NO	We vote ‘no’ on this proposal as it does not align with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 3 on Financial and Funding Mechanics.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlq5nrw6t9	Complete Web3 developer stack to make Cardano the smart contract layer for Bitcoin	600,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpvhtd5td	Beyond Minimum Viable Governance: Iteratively Improving on Cardano Voltaire	592,780	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpqx4t762	Eternl Maintenance	583,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqczags6z	Gerolamo - cardano node in typescript	578,571	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqx488pdm	Hardware Wallets Maintenance	424,800	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 2 on Committee Budget Proposals and Prior Feedback.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlzyc3clg6	PyCardano	314,800	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 3 on Financial and Funding Mechanics.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqj0vdlhj	Ledger App Rewrite	300,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpyflfc4s	Cexplorer.io – Developer-Focused Blockchain Explorer for Cardano	266,667	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlq63cfnf0	MLabs Core Tool Maintenance & Enhancement: Plutarch	243,478	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqsufvuyl	Dolos: Sustaining a Lightweight Cardano Data Node	220,914	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlq2yeptuu	UTxO RPC: Sustaining Cardano Blockchain Integration	220,914	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqghuqg03	Pallas: Sustaining Critical Rust Tooling for Cardano	220,914	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpgcp0jyh	AdaStat.net Cardano blockchain explorer	212,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlzzy7m65d	OpShin - Python Smart Contracts for Cardano	199,911	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 3 on Financial and Funding Mechanics.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqvckzwqt	Lucid Evolution Maintenance	130,903	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlzgf074ea	MLabs Research towards Tooling for Elliptical Curves - GrumpleStiltSkin	104,347	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action193leqzml768nz7nmpepzx822a5mzyanqhtewaxjtul5gp6uhwvfsqgl2qg0	BloxBean Java Tools Maintenance and Enhancement	99,600	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action18nefry4qacd80xzs2srjahxm2e4vz3c8wvrr03rrtk8mdqfuknysq66459t	MLabs Core Tool Maintenance & Enhancement: Cardano.nix	45,217	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.

Summary of Voting Approach

The Cardano Foundation’s votes on these 39 treasury-withdrawal governance actions are the direct execution of a single, comprehensive review process that began during the off-chain signaling phase. Although we present one aggregate rationale for efficiency, each proposal and governance action was individually assessed against a consistent framework anchored in our publicly stated principles.

Evaluation Framework

As outlined in our blog post, Navigating Budget Changes, our evaluation is guided by several core criteria. For these treasury withdrawals, our assessment focused on three primary areas:

• Strategic Alignment: We prioritized proposals that clearly align with the Cardano 2025 Vision & Roadmap and the principles of "Our Cardano." Proposals demonstrating a direct contribution to core infrastructure, ecosystem growth, decentralization, and sustainability scored highest in our assessment.
• Execution Viability & Financials: We assessed whether the requested funding was appropriate with the project’s scope and whether the team demonstrated the expertise and planning necessary for successful execution. This included a review of the budget breakdown, timelines, and risk considerations.
• Accountability and Delivery Assurance: A critical factor was the proposal’s commitment to transparency and accountability. We looked for clear deliverables, defined success metrics, and robust reporting plans. Given the significant value of Treasury funds, we placed a strong emphasis on frameworks that ensure what is promised is ultimately delivered.

The Cardano Foundation’s votes on these 39 treasury-withdrawal governance actions are the direct execution of a single, comprehensive review process that began during the off-chain signaling phase. Although we present one aggregate rationale for efficiency, each proposal and governance action was individually assessed against a consistent framework anchored in our publicly stated principles.

This document provides an aggregate rationale for the Cardano Foundation DRep’s votes on all Treasury Withdrawal GAs stemming from the approved “Cardano Blockchain Ecosystem Budget - 275M ada Administered by Intersect” (gov_action1u9x73kwufaxa70lfy59g4ynwyrcsaxdcd0gxzzmh67s9fxq4j8hqqk2phgh).

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

Our approach is designed to ensure both transparency and efficiency, applying a consistent evaluation framework (see here; the “Evaluation Framework”) to each proposal while presenting our reasoning in a single, comprehensive document.

Our current assessment remains consistent with the principles previously outlined in our public communications and our evaluation during the Ekklesia off-chain signaling phase. As no material changes have been made to the individual proposals since the overarching budget was approved, our votes on these withdrawals reflect our original assessment of them. However, we have changed our previous abstention on the Intersect proposal and our previous “No” vote for the Discover Cardano proposal to a "Yes" vote.

Fund administration clarity is a crucial consideration for our voting decisions. While this budget is approved as a package, we expect Intersect, as administrator, to manage funds diligently, provide public transparency on contracts, and ensure robust oversight, holding recipients accountable for deliverables.

Our voting decisions on the 39 treasury withdrawals are presented in the table below. The "Vote" column displays our votes. For all proposals requesting 3 million ada or more, our assessment is included in the "Note" column.

Table A – Voting Record

Governance Action ID	Title	Requested ADA	Vote	Note
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqz6d98zp	2025 Input Output Engineering Core Development Proposal	96,817,080	ABSTAIN	We abstain from both the TSC and IO Engineering proposals for the following different reasons: For the TSC proposal, we abstain due to the lack of a credible execution path. Although we support the intent and approach and while we recognise the significant work that went into this proposal, the recent sudden withdrawal of administrative support by the Intersect board makes the proposal unfeasible, even if funded at this time. For the IO Engineering proposal, we abstain as we are not confident that the current version offers sufficient transparency or accountability to justify endorsement. Our concerns stem from the lack of adjustments following constructive community feedback, particularly regarding scope, cost-effectiveness, and safeguards. View Cardano Foundation feedback from 11 May here.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpwywvhcq	Catalyst 2025 Proposal by Input Output: Advancing Decentralised Community Innovation Funding & Infrastructure	69,459,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it is important to ensure continuity for the main source of grant funding for the ecosystem during a transition year for governance, especially as Project Catalyst is a funding system that the Cardano ecosystem is familiar with. As the proposal did not fully account for CF's initial budget feedback nor propose activities linked to resolving known shortcomings, we will be monitoring these areas ahead of any subsequent budget proposals by Project Catalyst
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlzqhm6e8q	Input Output Research (IOR): Cardano Vision - Work Program 2025	26,840,000	ABSTAIN	We abstain from this proposal because we view key components of the proposed budget as materially too high, and previous feedback regarding costs and scope, including specific points raised by the Cardano Foundation on March 11 were not adequately addressed. View Cardano Foundation feedback from 11 May here.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlp2tyw3h6	A member-based organization for the Cardano ecosystem: Intersect	15,750,000	YES	We adjusted our vote from ‘abstain’ to ‘yes’ on this proposal. This reflects our acknowledgement of Intersect's revised 15.75M ada budget, recognizing Intersect's shift towards leaner operations. Our initial vote to abstain based on the discrepancy between the on-chain proposal and the updated off-chain figures, which has been remedied now. We emphasize the importance of having accurate and updated details reflected directly on the Ekklesia platform for all future proposals to ensure transparency and streamline the DRep voting process.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlp5u7pqqr	Cardano Builder DAO	12,000,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it mitigates the dependency of Cardano on grants by exploring convertible grants to incentivise projects better. The proposal identifies and addresses the gap in post-Catalyst funding for projects needing follow-up support in focusing on achieving product market fit instead of optimising towards grant writing.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqudh2k4c	TWEAG’s Proposals for multiple core budget projects for Cardano 2025	11,070,323	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as we believe supporting diverse contributors increases the resilience of Cardano, and as the proposal demonstrates a collaborative approach, accountability, and an appropriate engagement framework.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpjq3z9u5	Unveiling the First Unified Global Events Marketing Strategy for Cardano	6,000,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as it provides a clear value proposition for Cardano. This proposal was already assessed as part of the Marketing and Growth Budget.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpsn5rx0e	Cardano Summit 2025 and regional tech events	6,000,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as it provides a clear value proposition for Cardano. This proposal was already assessed as part of the Marketing and Growth Budget.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqkqx0ecg	OSC Budget Proposal - Paid Open Source Model for Sustainable Development	5,885,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as it aligns with the Cardano Vision and Roadmap for 2025 and beyond and contributes to a sustainable developer ecosystem for Cardano. However, we still believe additional details would have strengthened this proposal further.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlp730y0dn	Expanding Stablecoin / Cardano Native Asset Support / Fiat Ramps	4,000,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as it contributes to the growth in liquidity and DeFi, which we believe is an important value proposition.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpcdq823y	Ecosystem Exchange Listing and Market Making service pool	3,126,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal in line with the GMC’s voting and according to previous viability assessments.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpuz29v77	High-yield RWA Asset for Cardano : Tokenized Real Estate	3,000,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as it supports the expansion of the RWA topic. However, there is a lack of alignment with the roadmap, which we would expect to be enhanced afterwards.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqqfgyy3v	Midgard - Optimistic Rollups	2,162,096	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpk0mqrnw	Complement Catalyst: Extended Quadratic Funding—Zero Operational Costs	1,500,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqyxzxz7k	Blockfrost Platform community budget proposal	1,300,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqwtnrdnx	zkFold ZK Rollup	1,161,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlp679xfzf	Cardano Ecosystem Pavilions at Exhibitions	889,500	YES	We adjusted our vote from ‘no’ to ‘yes’ on this proposal. This reflects our acknowledgement of the revised scope to avoid overlapping with other proposals.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlzxt5eumh	Cardano Product Committee: Community-driven 2030 Cardano Vision and 2026 roadmap insights collection via workshops and structured product research	750,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlq77jt4x4	ZK Bridge	700,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpz4s2af8	Scalus - DApps Development Platform	657,692	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpx66gmxa	A free Native Asset CDN for Cardano Developers	605,000	NO	We vote ‘no’ on this proposal as it does not align with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 3 on Financial and Funding Mechanics.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlq5nrw6t9	Complete Web3 developer stack to make Cardano the smart contract layer for Bitcoin	600,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpvhtd5td	Beyond Minimum Viable Governance: Iteratively Improving on Cardano Voltaire	592,780	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpqx4t762	Eternl Maintenance	583,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqczags6z	Gerolamo - cardano node in typescript	578,571	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqx488pdm	Hardware Wallets Maintenance	424,800	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 2 on Committee Budget Proposals and Prior Feedback.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlzyc3clg6	PyCardano	314,800	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 3 on Financial and Funding Mechanics.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqj0vdlhj	Ledger App Rewrite	300,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpyflfc4s	Cexplorer.io – Developer-Focused Blockchain Explorer for Cardano	266,667	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlq63cfnf0	MLabs Core Tool Maintenance & Enhancement: Plutarch	243,478	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqsufvuyl	Dolos: Sustaining a Lightweight Cardano Data Node	220,914	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlq2yeptuu	UTxO RPC: Sustaining Cardano Blockchain Integration	220,914	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqghuqg03	Pallas: Sustaining Critical Rust Tooling for Cardano	220,914	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpgcp0jyh	AdaStat.net Cardano blockchain explorer	212,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlzzy7m65d	OpShin - Python Smart Contracts for Cardano	199,911	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 3 on Financial and Funding Mechanics.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqvckzwqt	Lucid Evolution Maintenance	130,903	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlzgf074ea	MLabs Research towards Tooling for Elliptical Curves - GrumpleStiltSkin	104,347	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action193leqzml768nz7nmpepzx822a5mzyanqhtewaxjtul5gp6uhwvfsqgl2qg0	BloxBean Java Tools Maintenance and Enhancement	99,600	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action18nefry4qacd80xzs2srjahxm2e4vz3c8wvrr03rrtk8mdqfuknysq66459t	MLabs Core Tool Maintenance & Enhancement: Cardano.nix	45,217	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.

Summary of Voting Approach

The Cardano Foundation’s votes on these 39 treasury-withdrawal governance actions are the direct execution of a single, comprehensive review process that began during the off-chain signaling phase. Although we present one aggregate rationale for efficiency, each proposal and governance action was individually assessed against a consistent framework anchored in our publicly stated principles.

Evaluation Framework

As outlined in our blog post, Navigating Budget Changes, our evaluation is guided by several core criteria. For these treasury withdrawals, our assessment focused on three primary areas:

• Strategic Alignment: We prioritized proposals that clearly align with the Cardano 2025 Vision & Roadmap and the principles of "Our Cardano." Proposals demonstrating a direct contribution to core infrastructure, ecosystem growth, decentralization, and sustainability scored highest in our assessment.
• Execution Viability & Financials: We assessed whether the requested funding was appropriate with the project’s scope and whether the team demonstrated the expertise and planning necessary for successful execution. This included a review of the budget breakdown, timelines, and risk considerations.
• Accountability and Delivery Assurance: A critical factor was the proposal’s commitment to transparency and accountability. We looked for clear deliverables, defined success metrics, and robust reporting plans. Given the significant value of Treasury funds, we placed a strong emphasis on frameworks that ensure what is promised is ultimately delivered.

The Cardano Foundation’s votes on these 39 treasury-withdrawal governance actions are the direct execution of a single, comprehensive review process that began during the off-chain signaling phase. Although we present one aggregate rationale for efficiency, each proposal and governance action was individually assessed against a consistent framework anchored in our publicly stated principles.

This document provides an aggregate rationale for the Cardano Foundation DRep’s votes on all Treasury Withdrawal GAs stemming from the approved “Cardano Blockchain Ecosystem Budget - 275M ada Administered by Intersect” (gov_action1u9x73kwufaxa70lfy59g4ynwyrcsaxdcd0gxzzmh67s9fxq4j8hqqk2phgh).

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

Our approach is designed to ensure both transparency and efficiency, applying a consistent evaluation framework (see here; the “Evaluation Framework”) to each proposal while presenting our reasoning in a single, comprehensive document.

Our current assessment remains consistent with the principles previously outlined in our public communications and our evaluation during the Ekklesia off-chain signaling phase. As no material changes have been made to the individual proposals since the overarching budget was approved, our votes on these withdrawals reflect our original assessment of them. However, we have changed our previous abstention on the Intersect proposal and our previous “No” vote for the Discover Cardano proposal to a "Yes" vote.

Fund administration clarity is a crucial consideration for our voting decisions. While this budget is approved as a package, we expect Intersect, as administrator, to manage funds diligently, provide public transparency on contracts, and ensure robust oversight, holding recipients accountable for deliverables.

Our voting decisions on the 39 treasury withdrawals are presented in the table below. The "Vote" column displays our votes. For all proposals requesting 3 million ada or more, our assessment is included in the "Note" column.

Table A – Voting Record

Governance Action ID	Title	Requested ADA	Vote	Note
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqz6d98zp	2025 Input Output Engineering Core Development Proposal	96,817,080	ABSTAIN	We abstain from both the TSC and IO Engineering proposals for the following different reasons: For the TSC proposal, we abstain due to the lack of a credible execution path. Although we support the intent and approach and while we recognise the significant work that went into this proposal, the recent sudden withdrawal of administrative support by the Intersect board makes the proposal unfeasible, even if funded at this time. For the IO Engineering proposal, we abstain as we are not confident that the current version offers sufficient transparency or accountability to justify endorsement. Our concerns stem from the lack of adjustments following constructive community feedback, particularly regarding scope, cost-effectiveness, and safeguards. View Cardano Foundation feedback from 11 May here.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpwywvhcq	Catalyst 2025 Proposal by Input Output: Advancing Decentralised Community Innovation Funding & Infrastructure	69,459,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it is important to ensure continuity for the main source of grant funding for the ecosystem during a transition year for governance, especially as Project Catalyst is a funding system that the Cardano ecosystem is familiar with. As the proposal did not fully account for CF's initial budget feedback nor propose activities linked to resolving known shortcomings, we will be monitoring these areas ahead of any subsequent budget proposals by Project Catalyst
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlzqhm6e8q	Input Output Research (IOR): Cardano Vision - Work Program 2025	26,840,000	ABSTAIN	We abstain from this proposal because we view key components of the proposed budget as materially too high, and previous feedback regarding costs and scope, including specific points raised by the Cardano Foundation on March 11 were not adequately addressed. View Cardano Foundation feedback from 11 May here.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlp2tyw3h6	A member-based organization for the Cardano ecosystem: Intersect	15,750,000	YES	We adjusted our vote from ‘abstain’ to ‘yes’ on this proposal. This reflects our acknowledgement of Intersect's revised 15.75M ada budget, recognizing Intersect's shift towards leaner operations. Our initial vote to abstain based on the discrepancy between the on-chain proposal and the updated off-chain figures, which has been remedied now. We emphasize the importance of having accurate and updated details reflected directly on the Ekklesia platform for all future proposals to ensure transparency and streamline the DRep voting process.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlp5u7pqqr	Cardano Builder DAO	12,000,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it mitigates the dependency of Cardano on grants by exploring convertible grants to incentivise projects better. The proposal identifies and addresses the gap in post-Catalyst funding for projects needing follow-up support in focusing on achieving product market fit instead of optimising towards grant writing.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqudh2k4c	TWEAG’s Proposals for multiple core budget projects for Cardano 2025	11,070,323	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as we believe supporting diverse contributors increases the resilience of Cardano, and as the proposal demonstrates a collaborative approach, accountability, and an appropriate engagement framework.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpjq3z9u5	Unveiling the First Unified Global Events Marketing Strategy for Cardano	6,000,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as it provides a clear value proposition for Cardano. This proposal was already assessed as part of the Marketing and Growth Budget.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpsn5rx0e	Cardano Summit 2025 and regional tech events	6,000,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as it provides a clear value proposition for Cardano. This proposal was already assessed as part of the Marketing and Growth Budget.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqkqx0ecg	OSC Budget Proposal - Paid Open Source Model for Sustainable Development	5,885,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as it aligns with the Cardano Vision and Roadmap for 2025 and beyond and contributes to a sustainable developer ecosystem for Cardano. However, we still believe additional details would have strengthened this proposal further.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlp730y0dn	Expanding Stablecoin / Cardano Native Asset Support / Fiat Ramps	4,000,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as it contributes to the growth in liquidity and DeFi, which we believe is an important value proposition.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpcdq823y	Ecosystem Exchange Listing and Market Making service pool	3,126,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal in line with the GMC’s voting and according to previous viability assessments.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpuz29v77	High-yield RWA Asset for Cardano : Tokenized Real Estate	3,000,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as it supports the expansion of the RWA topic. However, there is a lack of alignment with the roadmap, which we would expect to be enhanced afterwards.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqqfgyy3v	Midgard - Optimistic Rollups	2,162,096	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpk0mqrnw	Complement Catalyst: Extended Quadratic Funding—Zero Operational Costs	1,500,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqyxzxz7k	Blockfrost Platform community budget proposal	1,300,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqwtnrdnx	zkFold ZK Rollup	1,161,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlp679xfzf	Cardano Ecosystem Pavilions at Exhibitions	889,500	YES	We adjusted our vote from ‘no’ to ‘yes’ on this proposal. This reflects our acknowledgement of the revised scope to avoid overlapping with other proposals.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlzxt5eumh	Cardano Product Committee: Community-driven 2030 Cardano Vision and 2026 roadmap insights collection via workshops and structured product research	750,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlq77jt4x4	ZK Bridge	700,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpz4s2af8	Scalus - DApps Development Platform	657,692	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpx66gmxa	A free Native Asset CDN for Cardano Developers	605,000	NO	We vote ‘no’ on this proposal as it does not align with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 3 on Financial and Funding Mechanics.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlq5nrw6t9	Complete Web3 developer stack to make Cardano the smart contract layer for Bitcoin	600,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpvhtd5td	Beyond Minimum Viable Governance: Iteratively Improving on Cardano Voltaire	592,780	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpqx4t762	Eternl Maintenance	583,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqczags6z	Gerolamo - cardano node in typescript	578,571	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqx488pdm	Hardware Wallets Maintenance	424,800	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 2 on Committee Budget Proposals and Prior Feedback.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlzyc3clg6	PyCardano	314,800	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 3 on Financial and Funding Mechanics.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqj0vdlhj	Ledger App Rewrite	300,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpyflfc4s	Cexplorer.io – Developer-Focused Blockchain Explorer for Cardano	266,667	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlq63cfnf0	MLabs Core Tool Maintenance & Enhancement: Plutarch	243,478	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqsufvuyl	Dolos: Sustaining a Lightweight Cardano Data Node	220,914	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlq2yeptuu	UTxO RPC: Sustaining Cardano Blockchain Integration	220,914	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqghuqg03	Pallas: Sustaining Critical Rust Tooling for Cardano	220,914	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpgcp0jyh	AdaStat.net Cardano blockchain explorer	212,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlzzy7m65d	OpShin - Python Smart Contracts for Cardano	199,911	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 3 on Financial and Funding Mechanics.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqvckzwqt	Lucid Evolution Maintenance	130,903	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlzgf074ea	MLabs Research towards Tooling for Elliptical Curves - GrumpleStiltSkin	104,347	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action193leqzml768nz7nmpepzx822a5mzyanqhtewaxjtul5gp6uhwvfsqgl2qg0	BloxBean Java Tools Maintenance and Enhancement	99,600	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action18nefry4qacd80xzs2srjahxm2e4vz3c8wvrr03rrtk8mdqfuknysq66459t	MLabs Core Tool Maintenance & Enhancement: Cardano.nix	45,217	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.

Summary of Voting Approach

The Cardano Foundation’s votes on these 39 treasury-withdrawal governance actions are the direct execution of a single, comprehensive review process that began during the off-chain signaling phase. Although we present one aggregate rationale for efficiency, each proposal and governance action was individually assessed against a consistent framework anchored in our publicly stated principles.

Evaluation Framework

As outlined in our blog post, Navigating Budget Changes, our evaluation is guided by several core criteria. For these treasury withdrawals, our assessment focused on three primary areas:

• Strategic Alignment: We prioritized proposals that clearly align with the Cardano 2025 Vision & Roadmap and the principles of "Our Cardano." Proposals demonstrating a direct contribution to core infrastructure, ecosystem growth, decentralization, and sustainability scored highest in our assessment.
• Execution Viability & Financials: We assessed whether the requested funding was appropriate with the project’s scope and whether the team demonstrated the expertise and planning necessary for successful execution. This included a review of the budget breakdown, timelines, and risk considerations.
• Accountability and Delivery Assurance: A critical factor was the proposal’s commitment to transparency and accountability. We looked for clear deliverables, defined success metrics, and robust reporting plans. Given the significant value of Treasury funds, we placed a strong emphasis on frameworks that ensure what is promised is ultimately delivered.

The Cardano Foundation’s votes on these 39 treasury-withdrawal governance actions are the direct execution of a single, comprehensive review process that began during the off-chain signaling phase. Although we present one aggregate rationale for efficiency, each proposal and governance action was individually assessed against a consistent framework anchored in our publicly stated principles.

This document provides an aggregate rationale for the Cardano Foundation DRep’s votes on all Treasury Withdrawal GAs stemming from the approved “Cardano Blockchain Ecosystem Budget - 275M ada Administered by Intersect” (gov_action1u9x73kwufaxa70lfy59g4ynwyrcsaxdcd0gxzzmh67s9fxq4j8hqqk2phgh).

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

Our approach is designed to ensure both transparency and efficiency, applying a consistent evaluation framework (see here; the “Evaluation Framework”) to each proposal while presenting our reasoning in a single, comprehensive document.

Our current assessment remains consistent with the principles previously outlined in our public communications and our evaluation during the Ekklesia off-chain signaling phase. As no material changes have been made to the individual proposals since the overarching budget was approved, our votes on these withdrawals reflect our original assessment of them. However, we have changed our previous abstention on the Intersect proposal and our previous “No” vote for the Discover Cardano proposal to a "Yes" vote.

Fund administration clarity is a crucial consideration for our voting decisions. While this budget is approved as a package, we expect Intersect, as administrator, to manage funds diligently, provide public transparency on contracts, and ensure robust oversight, holding recipients accountable for deliverables.

Our voting decisions on the 39 treasury withdrawals are presented in the table below. The "Vote" column displays our votes. For all proposals requesting 3 million ada or more, our assessment is included in the "Note" column.

Table A – Voting Record

Governance Action ID	Title	Requested ADA	Vote	Note
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqz6d98zp	2025 Input Output Engineering Core Development Proposal	96,817,080	ABSTAIN	We abstain from both the TSC and IO Engineering proposals for the following different reasons: For the TSC proposal, we abstain due to the lack of a credible execution path. Although we support the intent and approach and while we recognise the significant work that went into this proposal, the recent sudden withdrawal of administrative support by the Intersect board makes the proposal unfeasible, even if funded at this time. For the IO Engineering proposal, we abstain as we are not confident that the current version offers sufficient transparency or accountability to justify endorsement. Our concerns stem from the lack of adjustments following constructive community feedback, particularly regarding scope, cost-effectiveness, and safeguards. View Cardano Foundation feedback from 11 May here.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpwywvhcq	Catalyst 2025 Proposal by Input Output: Advancing Decentralised Community Innovation Funding & Infrastructure	69,459,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it is important to ensure continuity for the main source of grant funding for the ecosystem during a transition year for governance, especially as Project Catalyst is a funding system that the Cardano ecosystem is familiar with. As the proposal did not fully account for CF's initial budget feedback nor propose activities linked to resolving known shortcomings, we will be monitoring these areas ahead of any subsequent budget proposals by Project Catalyst
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlzqhm6e8q	Input Output Research (IOR): Cardano Vision - Work Program 2025	26,840,000	ABSTAIN	We abstain from this proposal because we view key components of the proposed budget as materially too high, and previous feedback regarding costs and scope, including specific points raised by the Cardano Foundation on March 11 were not adequately addressed. View Cardano Foundation feedback from 11 May here.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlp2tyw3h6	A member-based organization for the Cardano ecosystem: Intersect	15,750,000	YES	We adjusted our vote from ‘abstain’ to ‘yes’ on this proposal. This reflects our acknowledgement of Intersect's revised 15.75M ada budget, recognizing Intersect's shift towards leaner operations. Our initial vote to abstain based on the discrepancy between the on-chain proposal and the updated off-chain figures, which has been remedied now. We emphasize the importance of having accurate and updated details reflected directly on the Ekklesia platform for all future proposals to ensure transparency and streamline the DRep voting process.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlp5u7pqqr	Cardano Builder DAO	12,000,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it mitigates the dependency of Cardano on grants by exploring convertible grants to incentivise projects better. The proposal identifies and addresses the gap in post-Catalyst funding for projects needing follow-up support in focusing on achieving product market fit instead of optimising towards grant writing.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqudh2k4c	TWEAG’s Proposals for multiple core budget projects for Cardano 2025	11,070,323	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as we believe supporting diverse contributors increases the resilience of Cardano, and as the proposal demonstrates a collaborative approach, accountability, and an appropriate engagement framework.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpjq3z9u5	Unveiling the First Unified Global Events Marketing Strategy for Cardano	6,000,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as it provides a clear value proposition for Cardano. This proposal was already assessed as part of the Marketing and Growth Budget.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpsn5rx0e	Cardano Summit 2025 and regional tech events	6,000,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as it provides a clear value proposition for Cardano. This proposal was already assessed as part of the Marketing and Growth Budget.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqkqx0ecg	OSC Budget Proposal - Paid Open Source Model for Sustainable Development	5,885,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as it aligns with the Cardano Vision and Roadmap for 2025 and beyond and contributes to a sustainable developer ecosystem for Cardano. However, we still believe additional details would have strengthened this proposal further.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlp730y0dn	Expanding Stablecoin / Cardano Native Asset Support / Fiat Ramps	4,000,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as it contributes to the growth in liquidity and DeFi, which we believe is an important value proposition.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpcdq823y	Ecosystem Exchange Listing and Market Making service pool	3,126,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal in line with the GMC’s voting and according to previous viability assessments.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpuz29v77	High-yield RWA Asset for Cardano : Tokenized Real Estate	3,000,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as it supports the expansion of the RWA topic. However, there is a lack of alignment with the roadmap, which we would expect to be enhanced afterwards.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqqfgyy3v	Midgard - Optimistic Rollups	2,162,096	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpk0mqrnw	Complement Catalyst: Extended Quadratic Funding—Zero Operational Costs	1,500,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqyxzxz7k	Blockfrost Platform community budget proposal	1,300,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqwtnrdnx	zkFold ZK Rollup	1,161,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlp679xfzf	Cardano Ecosystem Pavilions at Exhibitions	889,500	YES	We adjusted our vote from ‘no’ to ‘yes’ on this proposal. This reflects our acknowledgement of the revised scope to avoid overlapping with other proposals.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlzxt5eumh	Cardano Product Committee: Community-driven 2030 Cardano Vision and 2026 roadmap insights collection via workshops and structured product research	750,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlq77jt4x4	ZK Bridge	700,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpz4s2af8	Scalus - DApps Development Platform	657,692	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpx66gmxa	A free Native Asset CDN for Cardano Developers	605,000	NO	We vote ‘no’ on this proposal as it does not align with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 3 on Financial and Funding Mechanics.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlq5nrw6t9	Complete Web3 developer stack to make Cardano the smart contract layer for Bitcoin	600,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpvhtd5td	Beyond Minimum Viable Governance: Iteratively Improving on Cardano Voltaire	592,780	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpqx4t762	Eternl Maintenance	583,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqczags6z	Gerolamo - cardano node in typescript	578,571	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqx488pdm	Hardware Wallets Maintenance	424,800	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 2 on Committee Budget Proposals and Prior Feedback.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlzyc3clg6	PyCardano	314,800	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 3 on Financial and Funding Mechanics.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqj0vdlhj	Ledger App Rewrite	300,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpyflfc4s	Cexplorer.io – Developer-Focused Blockchain Explorer for Cardano	266,667	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlq63cfnf0	MLabs Core Tool Maintenance & Enhancement: Plutarch	243,478	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqsufvuyl	Dolos: Sustaining a Lightweight Cardano Data Node	220,914	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlq2yeptuu	UTxO RPC: Sustaining Cardano Blockchain Integration	220,914	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqghuqg03	Pallas: Sustaining Critical Rust Tooling for Cardano	220,914	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpgcp0jyh	AdaStat.net Cardano blockchain explorer	212,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlzzy7m65d	OpShin - Python Smart Contracts for Cardano	199,911	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 3 on Financial and Funding Mechanics.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqvckzwqt	Lucid Evolution Maintenance	130,903	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlzgf074ea	MLabs Research towards Tooling for Elliptical Curves - GrumpleStiltSkin	104,347	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action193leqzml768nz7nmpepzx822a5mzyanqhtewaxjtul5gp6uhwvfsqgl2qg0	BloxBean Java Tools Maintenance and Enhancement	99,600	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action18nefry4qacd80xzs2srjahxm2e4vz3c8wvrr03rrtk8mdqfuknysq66459t	MLabs Core Tool Maintenance & Enhancement: Cardano.nix	45,217	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.

Summary of Voting Approach

The Cardano Foundation’s votes on these 39 treasury-withdrawal governance actions are the direct execution of a single, comprehensive review process that began during the off-chain signaling phase. Although we present one aggregate rationale for efficiency, each proposal and governance action was individually assessed against a consistent framework anchored in our publicly stated principles.

Evaluation Framework

As outlined in our blog post, Navigating Budget Changes, our evaluation is guided by several core criteria. For these treasury withdrawals, our assessment focused on three primary areas:

• Strategic Alignment: We prioritized proposals that clearly align with the Cardano 2025 Vision & Roadmap and the principles of "Our Cardano." Proposals demonstrating a direct contribution to core infrastructure, ecosystem growth, decentralization, and sustainability scored highest in our assessment.
• Execution Viability & Financials: We assessed whether the requested funding was appropriate with the project’s scope and whether the team demonstrated the expertise and planning necessary for successful execution. This included a review of the budget breakdown, timelines, and risk considerations.
• Accountability and Delivery Assurance: A critical factor was the proposal’s commitment to transparency and accountability. We looked for clear deliverables, defined success metrics, and robust reporting plans. Given the significant value of Treasury funds, we placed a strong emphasis on frameworks that ensure what is promised is ultimately delivered.

The Cardano Foundation’s votes on these 39 treasury-withdrawal governance actions are the direct execution of a single, comprehensive review process that began during the off-chain signaling phase. Although we present one aggregate rationale for efficiency, each proposal and governance action was individually assessed against a consistent framework anchored in our publicly stated principles.

This document provides an aggregate rationale for the Cardano Foundation DRep’s votes on all Treasury Withdrawal GAs stemming from the approved “Cardano Blockchain Ecosystem Budget - 275M ada Administered by Intersect” (gov_action1u9x73kwufaxa70lfy59g4ynwyrcsaxdcd0gxzzmh67s9fxq4j8hqqk2phgh).

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

Our approach is designed to ensure both transparency and efficiency, applying a consistent evaluation framework (see here; the “Evaluation Framework”) to each proposal while presenting our reasoning in a single, comprehensive document.

Our current assessment remains consistent with the principles previously outlined in our public communications and our evaluation during the Ekklesia off-chain signaling phase. As no material changes have been made to the individual proposals since the overarching budget was approved, our votes on these withdrawals reflect our original assessment of them. However, we have changed our previous abstention on the Intersect proposal and our previous “No” vote for the Discover Cardano proposal to a "Yes" vote.

Fund administration clarity is a crucial consideration for our voting decisions. While this budget is approved as a package, we expect Intersect, as administrator, to manage funds diligently, provide public transparency on contracts, and ensure robust oversight, holding recipients accountable for deliverables.

Our voting decisions on the 39 treasury withdrawals are presented in the table below. The "Vote" column displays our votes. For all proposals requesting 3 million ada or more, our assessment is included in the "Note" column.

Table A – Voting Record

Governance Action ID	Title	Requested ADA	Vote	Note
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqz6d98zp	2025 Input Output Engineering Core Development Proposal	96,817,080	ABSTAIN	We abstain from both the TSC and IO Engineering proposals for the following different reasons: For the TSC proposal, we abstain due to the lack of a credible execution path. Although we support the intent and approach and while we recognise the significant work that went into this proposal, the recent sudden withdrawal of administrative support by the Intersect board makes the proposal unfeasible, even if funded at this time. For the IO Engineering proposal, we abstain as we are not confident that the current version offers sufficient transparency or accountability to justify endorsement. Our concerns stem from the lack of adjustments following constructive community feedback, particularly regarding scope, cost-effectiveness, and safeguards. View Cardano Foundation feedback from 11 May here.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpwywvhcq	Catalyst 2025 Proposal by Input Output: Advancing Decentralised Community Innovation Funding & Infrastructure	69,459,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it is important to ensure continuity for the main source of grant funding for the ecosystem during a transition year for governance, especially as Project Catalyst is a funding system that the Cardano ecosystem is familiar with. As the proposal did not fully account for CF's initial budget feedback nor propose activities linked to resolving known shortcomings, we will be monitoring these areas ahead of any subsequent budget proposals by Project Catalyst
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlzqhm6e8q	Input Output Research (IOR): Cardano Vision - Work Program 2025	26,840,000	ABSTAIN	We abstain from this proposal because we view key components of the proposed budget as materially too high, and previous feedback regarding costs and scope, including specific points raised by the Cardano Foundation on March 11 were not adequately addressed. View Cardano Foundation feedback from 11 May here.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlp2tyw3h6	A member-based organization for the Cardano ecosystem: Intersect	15,750,000	YES	We adjusted our vote from ‘abstain’ to ‘yes’ on this proposal. This reflects our acknowledgement of Intersect's revised 15.75M ada budget, recognizing Intersect's shift towards leaner operations. Our initial vote to abstain based on the discrepancy between the on-chain proposal and the updated off-chain figures, which has been remedied now. We emphasize the importance of having accurate and updated details reflected directly on the Ekklesia platform for all future proposals to ensure transparency and streamline the DRep voting process.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlp5u7pqqr	Cardano Builder DAO	12,000,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it mitigates the dependency of Cardano on grants by exploring convertible grants to incentivise projects better. The proposal identifies and addresses the gap in post-Catalyst funding for projects needing follow-up support in focusing on achieving product market fit instead of optimising towards grant writing.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqudh2k4c	TWEAG’s Proposals for multiple core budget projects for Cardano 2025	11,070,323	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as we believe supporting diverse contributors increases the resilience of Cardano, and as the proposal demonstrates a collaborative approach, accountability, and an appropriate engagement framework.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpjq3z9u5	Unveiling the First Unified Global Events Marketing Strategy for Cardano	6,000,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as it provides a clear value proposition for Cardano. This proposal was already assessed as part of the Marketing and Growth Budget.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpsn5rx0e	Cardano Summit 2025 and regional tech events	6,000,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as it provides a clear value proposition for Cardano. This proposal was already assessed as part of the Marketing and Growth Budget.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqkqx0ecg	OSC Budget Proposal - Paid Open Source Model for Sustainable Development	5,885,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as it aligns with the Cardano Vision and Roadmap for 2025 and beyond and contributes to a sustainable developer ecosystem for Cardano. However, we still believe additional details would have strengthened this proposal further.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlp730y0dn	Expanding Stablecoin / Cardano Native Asset Support / Fiat Ramps	4,000,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as it contributes to the growth in liquidity and DeFi, which we believe is an important value proposition.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpcdq823y	Ecosystem Exchange Listing and Market Making service pool	3,126,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal in line with the GMC’s voting and according to previous viability assessments.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpuz29v77	High-yield RWA Asset for Cardano : Tokenized Real Estate	3,000,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as it supports the expansion of the RWA topic. However, there is a lack of alignment with the roadmap, which we would expect to be enhanced afterwards.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqqfgyy3v	Midgard - Optimistic Rollups	2,162,096	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpk0mqrnw	Complement Catalyst: Extended Quadratic Funding—Zero Operational Costs	1,500,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqyxzxz7k	Blockfrost Platform community budget proposal	1,300,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqwtnrdnx	zkFold ZK Rollup	1,161,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlp679xfzf	Cardano Ecosystem Pavilions at Exhibitions	889,500	YES	We adjusted our vote from ‘no’ to ‘yes’ on this proposal. This reflects our acknowledgement of the revised scope to avoid overlapping with other proposals.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlzxt5eumh	Cardano Product Committee: Community-driven 2030 Cardano Vision and 2026 roadmap insights collection via workshops and structured product research	750,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlq77jt4x4	ZK Bridge	700,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpz4s2af8	Scalus - DApps Development Platform	657,692	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpx66gmxa	A free Native Asset CDN for Cardano Developers	605,000	NO	We vote ‘no’ on this proposal as it does not align with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 3 on Financial and Funding Mechanics.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlq5nrw6t9	Complete Web3 developer stack to make Cardano the smart contract layer for Bitcoin	600,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpvhtd5td	Beyond Minimum Viable Governance: Iteratively Improving on Cardano Voltaire	592,780	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpqx4t762	Eternl Maintenance	583,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqczags6z	Gerolamo - cardano node in typescript	578,571	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqx488pdm	Hardware Wallets Maintenance	424,800	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 2 on Committee Budget Proposals and Prior Feedback.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlzyc3clg6	PyCardano	314,800	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 3 on Financial and Funding Mechanics.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqj0vdlhj	Ledger App Rewrite	300,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpyflfc4s	Cexplorer.io – Developer-Focused Blockchain Explorer for Cardano	266,667	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlq63cfnf0	MLabs Core Tool Maintenance & Enhancement: Plutarch	243,478	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqsufvuyl	Dolos: Sustaining a Lightweight Cardano Data Node	220,914	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlq2yeptuu	UTxO RPC: Sustaining Cardano Blockchain Integration	220,914	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqghuqg03	Pallas: Sustaining Critical Rust Tooling for Cardano	220,914	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpgcp0jyh	AdaStat.net Cardano blockchain explorer	212,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlzzy7m65d	OpShin - Python Smart Contracts for Cardano	199,911	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 3 on Financial and Funding Mechanics.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqvckzwqt	Lucid Evolution Maintenance	130,903	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlzgf074ea	MLabs Research towards Tooling for Elliptical Curves - GrumpleStiltSkin	104,347	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action193leqzml768nz7nmpepzx822a5mzyanqhtewaxjtul5gp6uhwvfsqgl2qg0	BloxBean Java Tools Maintenance and Enhancement	99,600	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action18nefry4qacd80xzs2srjahxm2e4vz3c8wvrr03rrtk8mdqfuknysq66459t	MLabs Core Tool Maintenance & Enhancement: Cardano.nix	45,217	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.

Summary of Voting Approach

The Cardano Foundation’s votes on these 39 treasury-withdrawal governance actions are the direct execution of a single, comprehensive review process that began during the off-chain signaling phase. Although we present one aggregate rationale for efficiency, each proposal and governance action was individually assessed against a consistent framework anchored in our publicly stated principles.

Evaluation Framework

As outlined in our blog post, Navigating Budget Changes, our evaluation is guided by several core criteria. For these treasury withdrawals, our assessment focused on three primary areas:

• Strategic Alignment: We prioritized proposals that clearly align with the Cardano 2025 Vision & Roadmap and the principles of "Our Cardano." Proposals demonstrating a direct contribution to core infrastructure, ecosystem growth, decentralization, and sustainability scored highest in our assessment.
• Execution Viability & Financials: We assessed whether the requested funding was appropriate with the project’s scope and whether the team demonstrated the expertise and planning necessary for successful execution. This included a review of the budget breakdown, timelines, and risk considerations.
• Accountability and Delivery Assurance: A critical factor was the proposal’s commitment to transparency and accountability. We looked for clear deliverables, defined success metrics, and robust reporting plans. Given the significant value of Treasury funds, we placed a strong emphasis on frameworks that ensure what is promised is ultimately delivered.

The Cardano Foundation’s votes on these 39 treasury-withdrawal governance actions are the direct execution of a single, comprehensive review process that began during the off-chain signaling phase. Although we present one aggregate rationale for efficiency, each proposal and governance action was individually assessed against a consistent framework anchored in our publicly stated principles.

This document provides an aggregate rationale for the Cardano Foundation DRep’s votes on all Treasury Withdrawal GAs stemming from the approved “Cardano Blockchain Ecosystem Budget - 275M ada Administered by Intersect” (gov_action1u9x73kwufaxa70lfy59g4ynwyrcsaxdcd0gxzzmh67s9fxq4j8hqqk2phgh).

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

Our approach is designed to ensure both transparency and efficiency, applying a consistent evaluation framework (see here; the “Evaluation Framework”) to each proposal while presenting our reasoning in a single, comprehensive document.

Our current assessment remains consistent with the principles previously outlined in our public communications and our evaluation during the Ekklesia off-chain signaling phase. As no material changes have been made to the individual proposals since the overarching budget was approved, our votes on these withdrawals reflect our original assessment of them. However, we have changed our previous abstention on the Intersect proposal and our previous “No” vote for the Discover Cardano proposal to a "Yes" vote.

Fund administration clarity is a crucial consideration for our voting decisions. While this budget is approved as a package, we expect Intersect, as administrator, to manage funds diligently, provide public transparency on contracts, and ensure robust oversight, holding recipients accountable for deliverables.

Our voting decisions on the 39 treasury withdrawals are presented in the table below. The "Vote" column displays our votes. For all proposals requesting 3 million ada or more, our assessment is included in the "Note" column.

Table A – Voting Record

Governance Action ID	Title	Requested ADA	Vote	Note
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqz6d98zp	2025 Input Output Engineering Core Development Proposal	96,817,080	ABSTAIN	We abstain from both the TSC and IO Engineering proposals for the following different reasons: For the TSC proposal, we abstain due to the lack of a credible execution path. Although we support the intent and approach and while we recognise the significant work that went into this proposal, the recent sudden withdrawal of administrative support by the Intersect board makes the proposal unfeasible, even if funded at this time. For the IO Engineering proposal, we abstain as we are not confident that the current version offers sufficient transparency or accountability to justify endorsement. Our concerns stem from the lack of adjustments following constructive community feedback, particularly regarding scope, cost-effectiveness, and safeguards. View Cardano Foundation feedback from 11 May here.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpwywvhcq	Catalyst 2025 Proposal by Input Output: Advancing Decentralised Community Innovation Funding & Infrastructure	69,459,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it is important to ensure continuity for the main source of grant funding for the ecosystem during a transition year for governance, especially as Project Catalyst is a funding system that the Cardano ecosystem is familiar with. As the proposal did not fully account for CF's initial budget feedback nor propose activities linked to resolving known shortcomings, we will be monitoring these areas ahead of any subsequent budget proposals by Project Catalyst
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlzqhm6e8q	Input Output Research (IOR): Cardano Vision - Work Program 2025	26,840,000	ABSTAIN	We abstain from this proposal because we view key components of the proposed budget as materially too high, and previous feedback regarding costs and scope, including specific points raised by the Cardano Foundation on March 11 were not adequately addressed. View Cardano Foundation feedback from 11 May here.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlp2tyw3h6	A member-based organization for the Cardano ecosystem: Intersect	15,750,000	YES	We adjusted our vote from ‘abstain’ to ‘yes’ on this proposal. This reflects our acknowledgement of Intersect's revised 15.75M ada budget, recognizing Intersect's shift towards leaner operations. Our initial vote to abstain based on the discrepancy between the on-chain proposal and the updated off-chain figures, which has been remedied now. We emphasize the importance of having accurate and updated details reflected directly on the Ekklesia platform for all future proposals to ensure transparency and streamline the DRep voting process.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlp5u7pqqr	Cardano Builder DAO	12,000,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it mitigates the dependency of Cardano on grants by exploring convertible grants to incentivise projects better. The proposal identifies and addresses the gap in post-Catalyst funding for projects needing follow-up support in focusing on achieving product market fit instead of optimising towards grant writing.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqudh2k4c	TWEAG’s Proposals for multiple core budget projects for Cardano 2025	11,070,323	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as we believe supporting diverse contributors increases the resilience of Cardano, and as the proposal demonstrates a collaborative approach, accountability, and an appropriate engagement framework.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpjq3z9u5	Unveiling the First Unified Global Events Marketing Strategy for Cardano	6,000,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as it provides a clear value proposition for Cardano. This proposal was already assessed as part of the Marketing and Growth Budget.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpsn5rx0e	Cardano Summit 2025 and regional tech events	6,000,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as it provides a clear value proposition for Cardano. This proposal was already assessed as part of the Marketing and Growth Budget.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqkqx0ecg	OSC Budget Proposal - Paid Open Source Model for Sustainable Development	5,885,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as it aligns with the Cardano Vision and Roadmap for 2025 and beyond and contributes to a sustainable developer ecosystem for Cardano. However, we still believe additional details would have strengthened this proposal further.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlp730y0dn	Expanding Stablecoin / Cardano Native Asset Support / Fiat Ramps	4,000,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as it contributes to the growth in liquidity and DeFi, which we believe is an important value proposition.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpcdq823y	Ecosystem Exchange Listing and Market Making service pool	3,126,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal in line with the GMC’s voting and according to previous viability assessments.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpuz29v77	High-yield RWA Asset for Cardano : Tokenized Real Estate	3,000,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as it supports the expansion of the RWA topic. However, there is a lack of alignment with the roadmap, which we would expect to be enhanced afterwards.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqqfgyy3v	Midgard - Optimistic Rollups	2,162,096	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpk0mqrnw	Complement Catalyst: Extended Quadratic Funding—Zero Operational Costs	1,500,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqyxzxz7k	Blockfrost Platform community budget proposal	1,300,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqwtnrdnx	zkFold ZK Rollup	1,161,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlp679xfzf	Cardano Ecosystem Pavilions at Exhibitions	889,500	YES	We adjusted our vote from ‘no’ to ‘yes’ on this proposal. This reflects our acknowledgement of the revised scope to avoid overlapping with other proposals.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlzxt5eumh	Cardano Product Committee: Community-driven 2030 Cardano Vision and 2026 roadmap insights collection via workshops and structured product research	750,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlq77jt4x4	ZK Bridge	700,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpz4s2af8	Scalus - DApps Development Platform	657,692	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpx66gmxa	A free Native Asset CDN for Cardano Developers	605,000	NO	We vote ‘no’ on this proposal as it does not align with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 3 on Financial and Funding Mechanics.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlq5nrw6t9	Complete Web3 developer stack to make Cardano the smart contract layer for Bitcoin	600,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpvhtd5td	Beyond Minimum Viable Governance: Iteratively Improving on Cardano Voltaire	592,780	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpqx4t762	Eternl Maintenance	583,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqczags6z	Gerolamo - cardano node in typescript	578,571	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqx488pdm	Hardware Wallets Maintenance	424,800	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 2 on Committee Budget Proposals and Prior Feedback.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlzyc3clg6	PyCardano	314,800	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 3 on Financial and Funding Mechanics.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqj0vdlhj	Ledger App Rewrite	300,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpyflfc4s	Cexplorer.io – Developer-Focused Blockchain Explorer for Cardano	266,667	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlq63cfnf0	MLabs Core Tool Maintenance & Enhancement: Plutarch	243,478	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqsufvuyl	Dolos: Sustaining a Lightweight Cardano Data Node	220,914	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlq2yeptuu	UTxO RPC: Sustaining Cardano Blockchain Integration	220,914	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqghuqg03	Pallas: Sustaining Critical Rust Tooling for Cardano	220,914	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpgcp0jyh	AdaStat.net Cardano blockchain explorer	212,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlzzy7m65d	OpShin - Python Smart Contracts for Cardano	199,911	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 3 on Financial and Funding Mechanics.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqvckzwqt	Lucid Evolution Maintenance	130,903	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlzgf074ea	MLabs Research towards Tooling for Elliptical Curves - GrumpleStiltSkin	104,347	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action193leqzml768nz7nmpepzx822a5mzyanqhtewaxjtul5gp6uhwvfsqgl2qg0	BloxBean Java Tools Maintenance and Enhancement	99,600	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action18nefry4qacd80xzs2srjahxm2e4vz3c8wvrr03rrtk8mdqfuknysq66459t	MLabs Core Tool Maintenance & Enhancement: Cardano.nix	45,217	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.

Summary of Voting Approach

The Cardano Foundation’s votes on these 39 treasury-withdrawal governance actions are the direct execution of a single, comprehensive review process that began during the off-chain signaling phase. Although we present one aggregate rationale for efficiency, each proposal and governance action was individually assessed against a consistent framework anchored in our publicly stated principles.

Evaluation Framework

As outlined in our blog post, Navigating Budget Changes, our evaluation is guided by several core criteria. For these treasury withdrawals, our assessment focused on three primary areas:

• Strategic Alignment: We prioritized proposals that clearly align with the Cardano 2025 Vision & Roadmap and the principles of "Our Cardano." Proposals demonstrating a direct contribution to core infrastructure, ecosystem growth, decentralization, and sustainability scored highest in our assessment.
• Execution Viability & Financials: We assessed whether the requested funding was appropriate with the project’s scope and whether the team demonstrated the expertise and planning necessary for successful execution. This included a review of the budget breakdown, timelines, and risk considerations.
• Accountability and Delivery Assurance: A critical factor was the proposal’s commitment to transparency and accountability. We looked for clear deliverables, defined success metrics, and robust reporting plans. Given the significant value of Treasury funds, we placed a strong emphasis on frameworks that ensure what is promised is ultimately delivered.

The Cardano Foundation’s votes on these 39 treasury-withdrawal governance actions are the direct execution of a single, comprehensive review process that began during the off-chain signaling phase. Although we present one aggregate rationale for efficiency, each proposal and governance action was individually assessed against a consistent framework anchored in our publicly stated principles.

This document provides an aggregate rationale for the Cardano Foundation DRep’s votes on all Treasury Withdrawal GAs stemming from the approved “Cardano Blockchain Ecosystem Budget - 275M ada Administered by Intersect” (gov_action1u9x73kwufaxa70lfy59g4ynwyrcsaxdcd0gxzzmh67s9fxq4j8hqqk2phgh).

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

Our approach is designed to ensure both transparency and efficiency, applying a consistent evaluation framework (see here; the “Evaluation Framework”) to each proposal while presenting our reasoning in a single, comprehensive document.

Our current assessment remains consistent with the principles previously outlined in our public communications and our evaluation during the Ekklesia off-chain signaling phase. As no material changes have been made to the individual proposals since the overarching budget was approved, our votes on these withdrawals reflect our original assessment of them. However, we have changed our previous abstention on the Intersect proposal and our previous “No” vote for the Discover Cardano proposal to a "Yes" vote.

Fund administration clarity is a crucial consideration for our voting decisions. While this budget is approved as a package, we expect Intersect, as administrator, to manage funds diligently, provide public transparency on contracts, and ensure robust oversight, holding recipients accountable for deliverables.

Our voting decisions on the 39 treasury withdrawals are presented in the table below. The "Vote" column displays our votes. For all proposals requesting 3 million ada or more, our assessment is included in the "Note" column.

Table A – Voting Record

Governance Action ID	Title	Requested ADA	Vote	Note
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqz6d98zp	2025 Input Output Engineering Core Development Proposal	96,817,080	ABSTAIN	We abstain from both the TSC and IO Engineering proposals for the following different reasons: For the TSC proposal, we abstain due to the lack of a credible execution path. Although we support the intent and approach and while we recognise the significant work that went into this proposal, the recent sudden withdrawal of administrative support by the Intersect board makes the proposal unfeasible, even if funded at this time. For the IO Engineering proposal, we abstain as we are not confident that the current version offers sufficient transparency or accountability to justify endorsement. Our concerns stem from the lack of adjustments following constructive community feedback, particularly regarding scope, cost-effectiveness, and safeguards. View Cardano Foundation feedback from 11 May here.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpwywvhcq	Catalyst 2025 Proposal by Input Output: Advancing Decentralised Community Innovation Funding & Infrastructure	69,459,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it is important to ensure continuity for the main source of grant funding for the ecosystem during a transition year for governance, especially as Project Catalyst is a funding system that the Cardano ecosystem is familiar with. As the proposal did not fully account for CF's initial budget feedback nor propose activities linked to resolving known shortcomings, we will be monitoring these areas ahead of any subsequent budget proposals by Project Catalyst
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlzqhm6e8q	Input Output Research (IOR): Cardano Vision - Work Program 2025	26,840,000	ABSTAIN	We abstain from this proposal because we view key components of the proposed budget as materially too high, and previous feedback regarding costs and scope, including specific points raised by the Cardano Foundation on March 11 were not adequately addressed. View Cardano Foundation feedback from 11 May here.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlp2tyw3h6	A member-based organization for the Cardano ecosystem: Intersect	15,750,000	YES	We adjusted our vote from ‘abstain’ to ‘yes’ on this proposal. This reflects our acknowledgement of Intersect's revised 15.75M ada budget, recognizing Intersect's shift towards leaner operations. Our initial vote to abstain based on the discrepancy between the on-chain proposal and the updated off-chain figures, which has been remedied now. We emphasize the importance of having accurate and updated details reflected directly on the Ekklesia platform for all future proposals to ensure transparency and streamline the DRep voting process.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlp5u7pqqr	Cardano Builder DAO	12,000,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it mitigates the dependency of Cardano on grants by exploring convertible grants to incentivise projects better. The proposal identifies and addresses the gap in post-Catalyst funding for projects needing follow-up support in focusing on achieving product market fit instead of optimising towards grant writing.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqudh2k4c	TWEAG’s Proposals for multiple core budget projects for Cardano 2025	11,070,323	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as we believe supporting diverse contributors increases the resilience of Cardano, and as the proposal demonstrates a collaborative approach, accountability, and an appropriate engagement framework.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpjq3z9u5	Unveiling the First Unified Global Events Marketing Strategy for Cardano	6,000,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as it provides a clear value proposition for Cardano. This proposal was already assessed as part of the Marketing and Growth Budget.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpsn5rx0e	Cardano Summit 2025 and regional tech events	6,000,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as it provides a clear value proposition for Cardano. This proposal was already assessed as part of the Marketing and Growth Budget.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqkqx0ecg	OSC Budget Proposal - Paid Open Source Model for Sustainable Development	5,885,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as it aligns with the Cardano Vision and Roadmap for 2025 and beyond and contributes to a sustainable developer ecosystem for Cardano. However, we still believe additional details would have strengthened this proposal further.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlp730y0dn	Expanding Stablecoin / Cardano Native Asset Support / Fiat Ramps	4,000,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as it contributes to the growth in liquidity and DeFi, which we believe is an important value proposition.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpcdq823y	Ecosystem Exchange Listing and Market Making service pool	3,126,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal in line with the GMC’s voting and according to previous viability assessments.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpuz29v77	High-yield RWA Asset for Cardano : Tokenized Real Estate	3,000,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as it supports the expansion of the RWA topic. However, there is a lack of alignment with the roadmap, which we would expect to be enhanced afterwards.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqqfgyy3v	Midgard - Optimistic Rollups	2,162,096	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpk0mqrnw	Complement Catalyst: Extended Quadratic Funding—Zero Operational Costs	1,500,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqyxzxz7k	Blockfrost Platform community budget proposal	1,300,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqwtnrdnx	zkFold ZK Rollup	1,161,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlp679xfzf	Cardano Ecosystem Pavilions at Exhibitions	889,500	YES	We adjusted our vote from ‘no’ to ‘yes’ on this proposal. This reflects our acknowledgement of the revised scope to avoid overlapping with other proposals.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlzxt5eumh	Cardano Product Committee: Community-driven 2030 Cardano Vision and 2026 roadmap insights collection via workshops and structured product research	750,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlq77jt4x4	ZK Bridge	700,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpz4s2af8	Scalus - DApps Development Platform	657,692	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpx66gmxa	A free Native Asset CDN for Cardano Developers	605,000	NO	We vote ‘no’ on this proposal as it does not align with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 3 on Financial and Funding Mechanics.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlq5nrw6t9	Complete Web3 developer stack to make Cardano the smart contract layer for Bitcoin	600,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpvhtd5td	Beyond Minimum Viable Governance: Iteratively Improving on Cardano Voltaire	592,780	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpqx4t762	Eternl Maintenance	583,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqczags6z	Gerolamo - cardano node in typescript	578,571	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqx488pdm	Hardware Wallets Maintenance	424,800	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 2 on Committee Budget Proposals and Prior Feedback.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlzyc3clg6	PyCardano	314,800	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 3 on Financial and Funding Mechanics.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqj0vdlhj	Ledger App Rewrite	300,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpyflfc4s	Cexplorer.io – Developer-Focused Blockchain Explorer for Cardano	266,667	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlq63cfnf0	MLabs Core Tool Maintenance & Enhancement: Plutarch	243,478	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqsufvuyl	Dolos: Sustaining a Lightweight Cardano Data Node	220,914	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlq2yeptuu	UTxO RPC: Sustaining Cardano Blockchain Integration	220,914	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqghuqg03	Pallas: Sustaining Critical Rust Tooling for Cardano	220,914	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpgcp0jyh	AdaStat.net Cardano blockchain explorer	212,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlzzy7m65d	OpShin - Python Smart Contracts for Cardano	199,911	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 3 on Financial and Funding Mechanics.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqvckzwqt	Lucid Evolution Maintenance	130,903	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlzgf074ea	MLabs Research towards Tooling for Elliptical Curves - GrumpleStiltSkin	104,347	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action193leqzml768nz7nmpepzx822a5mzyanqhtewaxjtul5gp6uhwvfsqgl2qg0	BloxBean Java Tools Maintenance and Enhancement	99,600	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action18nefry4qacd80xzs2srjahxm2e4vz3c8wvrr03rrtk8mdqfuknysq66459t	MLabs Core Tool Maintenance & Enhancement: Cardano.nix	45,217	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.

Summary of Voting Approach

The Cardano Foundation’s votes on these 39 treasury-withdrawal governance actions are the direct execution of a single, comprehensive review process that began during the off-chain signaling phase. Although we present one aggregate rationale for efficiency, each proposal and governance action was individually assessed against a consistent framework anchored in our publicly stated principles.

Evaluation Framework

As outlined in our blog post, Navigating Budget Changes, our evaluation is guided by several core criteria. For these treasury withdrawals, our assessment focused on three primary areas:

• Strategic Alignment: We prioritized proposals that clearly align with the Cardano 2025 Vision & Roadmap and the principles of "Our Cardano." Proposals demonstrating a direct contribution to core infrastructure, ecosystem growth, decentralization, and sustainability scored highest in our assessment.
• Execution Viability & Financials: We assessed whether the requested funding was appropriate with the project’s scope and whether the team demonstrated the expertise and planning necessary for successful execution. This included a review of the budget breakdown, timelines, and risk considerations.
• Accountability and Delivery Assurance: A critical factor was the proposal’s commitment to transparency and accountability. We looked for clear deliverables, defined success metrics, and robust reporting plans. Given the significant value of Treasury funds, we placed a strong emphasis on frameworks that ensure what is promised is ultimately delivered.

The Cardano Foundation’s votes on these 39 treasury-withdrawal governance actions are the direct execution of a single, comprehensive review process that began during the off-chain signaling phase. Although we present one aggregate rationale for efficiency, each proposal and governance action was individually assessed against a consistent framework anchored in our publicly stated principles.

This document provides an aggregate rationale for the Cardano Foundation DRep’s votes on all Treasury Withdrawal GAs stemming from the approved “Cardano Blockchain Ecosystem Budget - 275M ada Administered by Intersect” (gov_action1u9x73kwufaxa70lfy59g4ynwyrcsaxdcd0gxzzmh67s9fxq4j8hqqk2phgh).

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

Our approach is designed to ensure both transparency and efficiency, applying a consistent evaluation framework (see here; the “Evaluation Framework”) to each proposal while presenting our reasoning in a single, comprehensive document.

Our current assessment remains consistent with the principles previously outlined in our public communications and our evaluation during the Ekklesia off-chain signaling phase. As no material changes have been made to the individual proposals since the overarching budget was approved, our votes on these withdrawals reflect our original assessment of them. However, we have changed our previous abstention on the Intersect proposal and our previous “No” vote for the Discover Cardano proposal to a "Yes" vote.

Fund administration clarity is a crucial consideration for our voting decisions. While this budget is approved as a package, we expect Intersect, as administrator, to manage funds diligently, provide public transparency on contracts, and ensure robust oversight, holding recipients accountable for deliverables.

Our voting decisions on the 39 treasury withdrawals are presented in the table below. The "Vote" column displays our votes. For all proposals requesting 3 million ada or more, our assessment is included in the "Note" column.

Table A – Voting Record

Governance Action ID	Title	Requested ADA	Vote	Note
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqz6d98zp	2025 Input Output Engineering Core Development Proposal	96,817,080	ABSTAIN	We abstain from both the TSC and IO Engineering proposals for the following different reasons: For the TSC proposal, we abstain due to the lack of a credible execution path. Although we support the intent and approach and while we recognise the significant work that went into this proposal, the recent sudden withdrawal of administrative support by the Intersect board makes the proposal unfeasible, even if funded at this time. For the IO Engineering proposal, we abstain as we are not confident that the current version offers sufficient transparency or accountability to justify endorsement. Our concerns stem from the lack of adjustments following constructive community feedback, particularly regarding scope, cost-effectiveness, and safeguards. View Cardano Foundation feedback from 11 May here.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpwywvhcq	Catalyst 2025 Proposal by Input Output: Advancing Decentralised Community Innovation Funding & Infrastructure	69,459,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it is important to ensure continuity for the main source of grant funding for the ecosystem during a transition year for governance, especially as Project Catalyst is a funding system that the Cardano ecosystem is familiar with. As the proposal did not fully account for CF's initial budget feedback nor propose activities linked to resolving known shortcomings, we will be monitoring these areas ahead of any subsequent budget proposals by Project Catalyst
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlzqhm6e8q	Input Output Research (IOR): Cardano Vision - Work Program 2025	26,840,000	ABSTAIN	We abstain from this proposal because we view key components of the proposed budget as materially too high, and previous feedback regarding costs and scope, including specific points raised by the Cardano Foundation on March 11 were not adequately addressed. View Cardano Foundation feedback from 11 May here.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlp2tyw3h6	A member-based organization for the Cardano ecosystem: Intersect	15,750,000	YES	We adjusted our vote from ‘abstain’ to ‘yes’ on this proposal. This reflects our acknowledgement of Intersect's revised 15.75M ada budget, recognizing Intersect's shift towards leaner operations. Our initial vote to abstain based on the discrepancy between the on-chain proposal and the updated off-chain figures, which has been remedied now. We emphasize the importance of having accurate and updated details reflected directly on the Ekklesia platform for all future proposals to ensure transparency and streamline the DRep voting process.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlp5u7pqqr	Cardano Builder DAO	12,000,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it mitigates the dependency of Cardano on grants by exploring convertible grants to incentivise projects better. The proposal identifies and addresses the gap in post-Catalyst funding for projects needing follow-up support in focusing on achieving product market fit instead of optimising towards grant writing.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqudh2k4c	TWEAG’s Proposals for multiple core budget projects for Cardano 2025	11,070,323	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as we believe supporting diverse contributors increases the resilience of Cardano, and as the proposal demonstrates a collaborative approach, accountability, and an appropriate engagement framework.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpjq3z9u5	Unveiling the First Unified Global Events Marketing Strategy for Cardano	6,000,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as it provides a clear value proposition for Cardano. This proposal was already assessed as part of the Marketing and Growth Budget.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpsn5rx0e	Cardano Summit 2025 and regional tech events	6,000,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as it provides a clear value proposition for Cardano. This proposal was already assessed as part of the Marketing and Growth Budget.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqkqx0ecg	OSC Budget Proposal - Paid Open Source Model for Sustainable Development	5,885,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as it aligns with the Cardano Vision and Roadmap for 2025 and beyond and contributes to a sustainable developer ecosystem for Cardano. However, we still believe additional details would have strengthened this proposal further.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlp730y0dn	Expanding Stablecoin / Cardano Native Asset Support / Fiat Ramps	4,000,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as it contributes to the growth in liquidity and DeFi, which we believe is an important value proposition.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpcdq823y	Ecosystem Exchange Listing and Market Making service pool	3,126,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal in line with the GMC’s voting and according to previous viability assessments.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpuz29v77	High-yield RWA Asset for Cardano : Tokenized Real Estate	3,000,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as it supports the expansion of the RWA topic. However, there is a lack of alignment with the roadmap, which we would expect to be enhanced afterwards.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqqfgyy3v	Midgard - Optimistic Rollups	2,162,096	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpk0mqrnw	Complement Catalyst: Extended Quadratic Funding—Zero Operational Costs	1,500,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqyxzxz7k	Blockfrost Platform community budget proposal	1,300,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqwtnrdnx	zkFold ZK Rollup	1,161,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlp679xfzf	Cardano Ecosystem Pavilions at Exhibitions	889,500	YES	We adjusted our vote from ‘no’ to ‘yes’ on this proposal. This reflects our acknowledgement of the revised scope to avoid overlapping with other proposals.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlzxt5eumh	Cardano Product Committee: Community-driven 2030 Cardano Vision and 2026 roadmap insights collection via workshops and structured product research	750,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlq77jt4x4	ZK Bridge	700,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpz4s2af8	Scalus - DApps Development Platform	657,692	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpx66gmxa	A free Native Asset CDN for Cardano Developers	605,000	NO	We vote ‘no’ on this proposal as it does not align with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 3 on Financial and Funding Mechanics.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlq5nrw6t9	Complete Web3 developer stack to make Cardano the smart contract layer for Bitcoin	600,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpvhtd5td	Beyond Minimum Viable Governance: Iteratively Improving on Cardano Voltaire	592,780	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpqx4t762	Eternl Maintenance	583,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqczags6z	Gerolamo - cardano node in typescript	578,571	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqx488pdm	Hardware Wallets Maintenance	424,800	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 2 on Committee Budget Proposals and Prior Feedback.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlzyc3clg6	PyCardano	314,800	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 3 on Financial and Funding Mechanics.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqj0vdlhj	Ledger App Rewrite	300,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpyflfc4s	Cexplorer.io – Developer-Focused Blockchain Explorer for Cardano	266,667	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlq63cfnf0	MLabs Core Tool Maintenance & Enhancement: Plutarch	243,478	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqsufvuyl	Dolos: Sustaining a Lightweight Cardano Data Node	220,914	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlq2yeptuu	UTxO RPC: Sustaining Cardano Blockchain Integration	220,914	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqghuqg03	Pallas: Sustaining Critical Rust Tooling for Cardano	220,914	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpgcp0jyh	AdaStat.net Cardano blockchain explorer	212,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlzzy7m65d	OpShin - Python Smart Contracts for Cardano	199,911	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 3 on Financial and Funding Mechanics.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqvckzwqt	Lucid Evolution Maintenance	130,903	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlzgf074ea	MLabs Research towards Tooling for Elliptical Curves - GrumpleStiltSkin	104,347	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action193leqzml768nz7nmpepzx822a5mzyanqhtewaxjtul5gp6uhwvfsqgl2qg0	BloxBean Java Tools Maintenance and Enhancement	99,600	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action18nefry4qacd80xzs2srjahxm2e4vz3c8wvrr03rrtk8mdqfuknysq66459t	MLabs Core Tool Maintenance & Enhancement: Cardano.nix	45,217	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.

Summary of Voting Approach

The Cardano Foundation’s votes on these 39 treasury-withdrawal governance actions are the direct execution of a single, comprehensive review process that began during the off-chain signaling phase. Although we present one aggregate rationale for efficiency, each proposal and governance action was individually assessed against a consistent framework anchored in our publicly stated principles.

Evaluation Framework

As outlined in our blog post, Navigating Budget Changes, our evaluation is guided by several core criteria. For these treasury withdrawals, our assessment focused on three primary areas:

• Strategic Alignment: We prioritized proposals that clearly align with the Cardano 2025 Vision & Roadmap and the principles of "Our Cardano." Proposals demonstrating a direct contribution to core infrastructure, ecosystem growth, decentralization, and sustainability scored highest in our assessment.
• Execution Viability & Financials: We assessed whether the requested funding was appropriate with the project’s scope and whether the team demonstrated the expertise and planning necessary for successful execution. This included a review of the budget breakdown, timelines, and risk considerations.
• Accountability and Delivery Assurance: A critical factor was the proposal’s commitment to transparency and accountability. We looked for clear deliverables, defined success metrics, and robust reporting plans. Given the significant value of Treasury funds, we placed a strong emphasis on frameworks that ensure what is promised is ultimately delivered.

The Cardano Foundation’s votes on these 39 treasury-withdrawal governance actions are the direct execution of a single, comprehensive review process that began during the off-chain signaling phase. Although we present one aggregate rationale for efficiency, each proposal and governance action was individually assessed against a consistent framework anchored in our publicly stated principles.

This document provides an aggregate rationale for the Cardano Foundation DRep’s votes on all Treasury Withdrawal GAs stemming from the approved “Cardano Blockchain Ecosystem Budget - 275M ada Administered by Intersect” (gov_action1u9x73kwufaxa70lfy59g4ynwyrcsaxdcd0gxzzmh67s9fxq4j8hqqk2phgh).

A PDF version of this rationale is also made available.

Our approach is designed to ensure both transparency and efficiency, applying a consistent evaluation framework (see here; the “Evaluation Framework”) to each proposal while presenting our reasoning in a single, comprehensive document.

Our current assessment remains consistent with the principles previously outlined in our public communications and our evaluation during the Ekklesia off-chain signaling phase. As no material changes have been made to the individual proposals since the overarching budget was approved, our votes on these withdrawals reflect our original assessment of them. However, we have changed our previous abstention on the Intersect proposal and our previous “No” vote for the Discover Cardano proposal to a "Yes" vote.

Fund administration clarity is a crucial consideration for our voting decisions. While this budget is approved as a package, we expect Intersect, as administrator, to manage funds diligently, provide public transparency on contracts, and ensure robust oversight, holding recipients accountable for deliverables.

Our voting decisions on the 39 treasury withdrawals are presented in the table below. The "Vote" column displays our votes. For all proposals requesting 3 million ada or more, our assessment is included in the "Note" column.

Table A – Voting Record

Governance Action ID	Title	Requested ADA	Vote	Note
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqz6d98zp	2025 Input Output Engineering Core Development Proposal	96,817,080	ABSTAIN	We abstain from both the TSC and IO Engineering proposals for the following different reasons: For the TSC proposal, we abstain due to the lack of a credible execution path. Although we support the intent and approach and while we recognise the significant work that went into this proposal, the recent sudden withdrawal of administrative support by the Intersect board makes the proposal unfeasible, even if funded at this time. For the IO Engineering proposal, we abstain as we are not confident that the current version offers sufficient transparency or accountability to justify endorsement. Our concerns stem from the lack of adjustments following constructive community feedback, particularly regarding scope, cost-effectiveness, and safeguards. View Cardano Foundation feedback from 11 May here.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpwywvhcq	Catalyst 2025 Proposal by Input Output: Advancing Decentralised Community Innovation Funding & Infrastructure	69,459,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it is important to ensure continuity for the main source of grant funding for the ecosystem during a transition year for governance, especially as Project Catalyst is a funding system that the Cardano ecosystem is familiar with. As the proposal did not fully account for CF's initial budget feedback nor propose activities linked to resolving known shortcomings, we will be monitoring these areas ahead of any subsequent budget proposals by Project Catalyst
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlzqhm6e8q	Input Output Research (IOR): Cardano Vision - Work Program 2025	26,840,000	ABSTAIN	We abstain from this proposal because we view key components of the proposed budget as materially too high, and previous feedback regarding costs and scope, including specific points raised by the Cardano Foundation on March 11 were not adequately addressed. View Cardano Foundation feedback from 11 May here.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlp2tyw3h6	A member-based organization for the Cardano ecosystem: Intersect	15,750,000	YES	We adjusted our vote from ‘abstain’ to ‘yes’ on this proposal. This reflects our acknowledgement of Intersect's revised 15.75M ada budget, recognizing Intersect's shift towards leaner operations. Our initial vote to abstain based on the discrepancy between the on-chain proposal and the updated off-chain figures, which has been remedied now. We emphasize the importance of having accurate and updated details reflected directly on the Ekklesia platform for all future proposals to ensure transparency and streamline the DRep voting process.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlp5u7pqqr	Cardano Builder DAO	12,000,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it mitigates the dependency of Cardano on grants by exploring convertible grants to incentivise projects better. The proposal identifies and addresses the gap in post-Catalyst funding for projects needing follow-up support in focusing on achieving product market fit instead of optimising towards grant writing.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqudh2k4c	TWEAG’s Proposals for multiple core budget projects for Cardano 2025	11,070,323	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as we believe supporting diverse contributors increases the resilience of Cardano, and as the proposal demonstrates a collaborative approach, accountability, and an appropriate engagement framework.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpjq3z9u5	Unveiling the First Unified Global Events Marketing Strategy for Cardano	6,000,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as it provides a clear value proposition for Cardano. This proposal was already assessed as part of the Marketing and Growth Budget.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpsn5rx0e	Cardano Summit 2025 and regional tech events	6,000,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as it provides a clear value proposition for Cardano. This proposal was already assessed as part of the Marketing and Growth Budget.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqkqx0ecg	OSC Budget Proposal - Paid Open Source Model for Sustainable Development	5,885,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as it aligns with the Cardano Vision and Roadmap for 2025 and beyond and contributes to a sustainable developer ecosystem for Cardano. However, we still believe additional details would have strengthened this proposal further.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlp730y0dn	Expanding Stablecoin / Cardano Native Asset Support / Fiat Ramps	4,000,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as it contributes to the growth in liquidity and DeFi, which we believe is an important value proposition.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpcdq823y	Ecosystem Exchange Listing and Market Making service pool	3,126,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal in line with the GMC’s voting and according to previous viability assessments.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpuz29v77	High-yield RWA Asset for Cardano : Tokenized Real Estate	3,000,000	YES	We vote 'yes' on this proposal as it supports the expansion of the RWA topic. However, there is a lack of alignment with the roadmap, which we would expect to be enhanced afterwards.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqqfgyy3v	Midgard - Optimistic Rollups	2,162,096	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpk0mqrnw	Complement Catalyst: Extended Quadratic Funding—Zero Operational Costs	1,500,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqyxzxz7k	Blockfrost Platform community budget proposal	1,300,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqwtnrdnx	zkFold ZK Rollup	1,161,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlp679xfzf	Cardano Ecosystem Pavilions at Exhibitions	889,500	YES	We adjusted our vote from ‘no’ to ‘yes’ on this proposal. This reflects our acknowledgement of the revised scope to avoid overlapping with other proposals.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlzxt5eumh	Cardano Product Committee: Community-driven 2030 Cardano Vision and 2026 roadmap insights collection via workshops and structured product research	750,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlq77jt4x4	ZK Bridge	700,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpz4s2af8	Scalus - DApps Development Platform	657,692	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpx66gmxa	A free Native Asset CDN for Cardano Developers	605,000	NO	We vote ‘no’ on this proposal as it does not align with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 3 on Financial and Funding Mechanics.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlq5nrw6t9	Complete Web3 developer stack to make Cardano the smart contract layer for Bitcoin	600,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpvhtd5td	Beyond Minimum Viable Governance: Iteratively Improving on Cardano Voltaire	592,780	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpqx4t762	Eternl Maintenance	583,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqczags6z	Gerolamo - cardano node in typescript	578,571	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqx488pdm	Hardware Wallets Maintenance	424,800	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 2 on Committee Budget Proposals and Prior Feedback.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlzyc3clg6	PyCardano	314,800	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 3 on Financial and Funding Mechanics.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqj0vdlhj	Ledger App Rewrite	300,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpyflfc4s	Cexplorer.io – Developer-Focused Blockchain Explorer for Cardano	266,667	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlq63cfnf0	MLabs Core Tool Maintenance & Enhancement: Plutarch	243,478	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqsufvuyl	Dolos: Sustaining a Lightweight Cardano Data Node	220,914	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlq2yeptuu	UTxO RPC: Sustaining Cardano Blockchain Integration	220,914	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqghuqg03	Pallas: Sustaining Critical Rust Tooling for Cardano	220,914	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlpgcp0jyh	AdaStat.net Cardano blockchain explorer	212,000	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlzzy7m65d	OpShin - Python Smart Contracts for Cardano	199,911	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 3 on Financial and Funding Mechanics.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlqvckzwqt	Lucid Evolution Maintenance	130,903	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action13tfag48nf94rtjcdq7c06vhkslmxxw9h6c88sl7q5g5nnewcsvlzgf074ea	MLabs Research towards Tooling for Elliptical Curves - GrumpleStiltSkin	104,347	YES	We vote ‘yes’ on this proposal as it aligns with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action193leqzml768nz7nmpepzx822a5mzyanqhtewaxjtul5gp6uhwvfsqgl2qg0	BloxBean Java Tools Maintenance and Enhancement	99,600	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.
gov_action18nefry4qacd80xzs2srjahxm2e4vz3c8wvrr03rrtk8mdqfuknysq66459t	MLabs Core Tool Maintenance & Enhancement: Cardano.nix	45,217	ABSTAIN	We abstain on this proposal in accordance with the principles of the Evaluation Framework, specifically principle 1 on Scope and Strategic Alignment.

Summary of Voting Approach

The Cardano Foundation’s votes on these 39 treasury-withdrawal governance actions are the direct execution of a single, comprehensive review process that began during the off-chain signaling phase. Although we present one aggregate rationale for efficiency, each proposal and governance action was individually assessed against a consistent framework anchored in our publicly stated principles.

Evaluation Framework

As outlined in our blog post, Navigating Budget Changes, our evaluation is guided by several core criteria. For these treasury withdrawals, our assessment focused on three primary areas:

• Strategic Alignment: We prioritized proposals that clearly align with the Cardano 2025 Vision & Roadmap and the principles of "Our Cardano." Proposals demonstrating a direct contribution to core infrastructure, ecosystem growth, decentralization, and sustainability scored highest in our assessment.
• Execution Viability & Financials: We assessed whether the requested funding was appropriate with the project’s scope and whether the team demonstrated the expertise and planning necessary for successful execution. This included a review of the budget breakdown, timelines, and risk considerations.
• Accountability and Delivery Assurance: A critical factor was the proposal’s commitment to transparency and accountability. We looked for clear deliverables, defined success metrics, and robust reporting plans. Given the significant value of Treasury funds, we placed a strong emphasis on frameworks that ensure what is promised is ultimately delivered.

The Cardano Foundation’s votes on these 39 treasury-withdrawal governance actions are the direct execution of a single, comprehensive review process that began during the off-chain signaling phase. Although we present one aggregate rationale for efficiency, each proposal and governance action was individually assessed against a consistent framework anchored in our publicly stated principles.